How angry Hardik Pandya’s trade to the Mumbai Indians had made fans of his old team, Gujarat Titans, was apparent when the two teams met in their season opener last week.
Multiple times during the IPL 2024 game, which the Titans won by six runs, loud boos rang out at the packed Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as Gujarat fans let their displeasure be known to Hardik, who had captained the Gujarat-based franchise since its inception.
In his two seasons at the helm at the Titans, Hardik had led the team to a title in the 2022 season and took them into the final last season.
Not just the Gujarat faithful, there is some anger among the Mumbai Indians fan base also after the team management chose to elevate Hardik to captaincy over longtime general Rohit Sharma, who was part of the team’s five IPL titles.
If the reception Hardik got at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad was frosty, it could be even worse when Mumbai play their first home game on Monday next week against the Rajasthan Royals.
“You have to see how Hardik gets welcomed in Mumbai because I think he is going to get booed a bit louder here… Because as a fan, a Mumbai fan or a Rohit Sharma fan, nobody expected that captaincy will be given to Hardik,” Tiwary was quoted as saying by PTI.
“And despite Rohit giving five trophies to Mumbai Indians, he has to lose the captaincy. I don’t know what the reasons are, but I think it has not gone down well with the fans. And that is the reaction which you see on the field.”
Tiwary was full of praise for Pandya’s temperament, especially in the face of the rancour he faced in Ahmedabad.
“Knowing him, whatever I have been observing of late through television, that despite getting booed, he kept his calm, he kept his nerve, which is the sign of a good temperament,” he said.
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