Hardik Pandya at Wankhede: Mumbai Police deploys cops in plain clothes behind MI dugout as precaution

“For this game there are cops in civil dress behind the Mumbai Indians dug out. They are in the stands along with the fans. Overall around 3,000 police personnel have been deployed for this IPL game,” a MCA official said.

And when Pandya walked in with Mumbai wobbling at 20 for 4 in the fourth over, there was silence. No boos. Not much cheers either. Then the penny dropped when the stadium announcer first involved the old Mumbai chant: Ganpati bappa Mourya. The crowd repeated it.

By this time, Pandya had taken stance and that’s when the announcer shouted out his name. Then came the boos, starting from square-leg region and the aural taunt spread around.

It took him just four balls to get them on his side. At least for now. He charged out to Burger in the 6th over and sliced a four over point. And as the ball rolled over the boundary, cheers broke out. Next ball, the din grew ever so audibly when he rushed down the track to slap a back-of-length ball through the off side. This time, the flags waved and lungs cleared. Couple of balls later, they were up on their feet to cheer Hardik as he walloped one to long-on boundary. Now most of them were standing up as Burger ran in for the last ball, and Pandya sliced it off the outer edge to third man. Two runs, and the crowd cheered as if it were a boundary.

Earlier, Pandya was booed by the fans as soon as his name was called out before the toss which led to Sanjay Manjrekar, who was conducting the toss, to call for the crowd to ‘behave.’

“MI captain Hardik Pandya. Big round of applause, ladies and gentlemen. Behave,” Manjrekar said as the fans booed the captain in something that has become a regular occurrence in this season of the Indian Premier League. There were loud chants for the former skipper Rohit Sharma as well.

“It’s quite exciting to be a part of this game. We always look forward to the future, need to follow the process. Looking forward to playing a brand of cricket everyone enjoys,” Pandya, who on the surface looked confident, said after losing the toss.

Hardik has already been booed at two venues in Mumbai first two games of IPL 2024. He bore the brunt of the Gujarat Titans’ fans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, which was expected since Hardik had left the franchise to move back to Mumbai after leading them to the title in the first season.

However, Hardik also got stick from fans in the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.