Mumbai Indians new skipper Hardik Pandya is facing a lot of criticism for failing to win a single match for the team in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2024. Pandya has been booed both in Hyderabad and in Mumbai by MI fans.
Commenting on the whole scene with Pandya getting booed by the fans and he being questioned for his skills to lead the pack of Mumbai Indians, former England captain Michael Vaughan said that the big debate in IPL currently is whether MI will re-appoint Rohit as their captain after the fans’ reaction towards Pandya.
“The big debate is whether Rohit Sharma will end up back as captain. That has caused a lot of drama here in India. The booing… I have to say, the Indian crowd just loves cricket. I have never heard them boo. I’ve certainly never heard them boo one of their own. I get the booing when he played at (Ahmedabad) against the Gujarat Titans. He’s left them and joined Mumbai. He took them to a title. So I get that in a pantomime kind of way,” Hindustan Times quoted Vaughan as saying on the Club Prairie Fire podcast with former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist.
Vaughan also added that it was a bit shocking for him to see Pandya get booed by the home crowd at Wankhede Stadium. He said that he had never seen the Indian fans boo their own in the past.
“But for him to go to Hyderabad and get booed and then come to Wankhede and get booed by the Mumbai Indians fans while he is playing for them, I’m staggered by it. I have never seen the Indian crowd boo one of their own. It’s remarkable,” he added.
Another cricket legend from Australia Adam Gilchrist – part of the conversation – opined that MI management’s big decision to move on from Rohit to Pandya as their leader may have created this scene.
“It shows you the status that Rohit Sharma has in the game there. The mysterious manner with which it all played out initially, the pace with which it happened, everyone was stunned with Mumbai getting Hardik Pandya away from Gujarat and then Rohit relinquishing captaincy. It’s an odd one. But this is the nature of the beast in the IPL. The tribalism and intensity within fan bases. It’s hard to replicate anywhere else with that level of intensity,” Gilchrist explained.
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Published: 03 Apr 2024, 09:12 PM IST