One of the most significant issues that arose following Hardik Pandya’s move from Gujarat Titans to Mumbai Indians and his replacement of Rohit Sharma as their captain ahead of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) was that he became an object of fan backlash. It constituted a situation where in each match Pandya was booed by the fans when he came out for coin tossing.
Sanjay Manjrekar, one time Indian cricketer, had to involve himself in the matter during one such toss asking Wankhede crowd to “behave.”
Mumbai’s Jasprit Bumrah, who plays also for India, gave his thoughts on the issue stating that MI team weakened behind Pandya even at this tough moment.
“It happens,” Bumrah said. “You have to take it on your chin. That’s where the inner circle comes in. We, as a team, don’t encourage that, we don’t promote that. We don’t think that’s warranted.” Bumrah told The Parami News.
“If it happened, it happened,” said the pacer. “We were with him (Hardik), talking to him if he needed support. Certain things are beyond your control.”
According to Bumrah, everything changed after India won T20 World Cup 2024.
Pandya who had been jeered suddenly turned cheered after his last over win against South Africa at T20 World Cup final match. He took out Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller while giving away only 20 runs in his spell which made it possible for India to clinch the title.
In T20 World cup Pandya scored 144 runs with a strike rate above 150 and took 11 wickets as well.
“The narrative just changed when we won the World Cup,” Bumrah concluded speaking about their plans regarding how they will provide a huge amount of backup they can offer.
