Hardik Pandya is probably the most talked about Indian cricketer right now. If replacing five-time IPL champion Rohit Sharma at the helm of Mumbai Indians wasn’t enough, the poor start to his leadership role at the franchise in IPL 2024 have made things worse for Pandya. Everywhere he goes, even on social media, the hate surrounding Pandya is there for all to see. For India’s best fast bowling allrounder, Pandya definitely is under pressure, more so from the outside. Hardik Pandya’s Indian cricket teammate R Ashwin has spoken on the issue.
“Hardik Pandya getting booed is really bad! Should MI management step in and owe an explanation to the fans? It’s really management’s poor transfer. What do you say?” A fan names Santhoshkumar M asked Ashwin.
On YouTube, He replied in Tamil: “Neither has any role to play. I think it is the responsibility and onus of the fans. In the comments section you see talks about Virat Kohli , MS Dhoni. They are Indian cricket team legends. It is very sad. This is cricket. It is a complete cinema culture. I know there is also positioning, branding, marketing. But fan wars, ugly.
“if you don’t like a player and boo a player, why should a team come out to issue a clarification? We act like this has not happened before. Sachin played under Ganguly’s captaincy, these two have both played under Rahul Dravid. These three have played under Kumble and all of them have played under Dhoni. When they were under MS, these players were cricket giants. We need to get our act together. This is real time sport.”
Australian star batter Steve Smith has advised Hardik Pandya to simply “block out” the constant jeers and boos the new Mumbai Indians skipper is receiving from spectators at the IPL so far, as they are “all irrelevant”.
I’d try and just say, to block it out, it’s all irrelevant,” Smith, who has faced abuse from fans across the world for his role in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town, told ESPNcricinfo.
“No one outside knows what you are going through. No one (from outside) is in that change room.”
Smith, who was called “cheat” by fans during the 2019 ODI World Cup in England, feels all these abuse will come as a big surprise for Hardik as he is getting it from his Indian fans at home.
“Personally, for me, it doesn’t bother me. I don’t care. I don’t pay any attention,” said Smith, who had to resign as Rajasthan Royals captain in 2018 after the ball-tampering scandal.
“You know it’s all white noise, but certainly players do hear things and everyone’s entitled to their own emotions and how they respond to those.
“So is it affecting him (Hardik)? Maybe. It’s possible. He probably hasn’t experienced that before in, in any walk of life.
“So it’s natural, I suppose, and particularly being in India and a star Indian player, to be in that position where some fans are booing you, it’s certainly something he wouldn’t have experienced.”
With PTI inputs
