The boos started to make way for Rohit Sharma chants in the middle of the over. They grew louder when Pandya was hit for a six in his last ball by Rajat Patidar
Hardik Pandya may have turned it around with the bat – he slammed a 6-ball 21 and also hit the winning runs – but his torrid time in the field in IPL 2024 continued as the Wankhede crowd in Mumbai once again booed him during their home match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday. Hardik, who has been subjected to heavy trolling in every match of MI this year, was not spared as the jam-packed stadium heckled him as soon he came on to bowl against RCB.
Mumbai Indians’ captain Hardik Pandya and his teammate Rohit Sharma (L) talk during the IPL match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru(AFP)
There were oos and aaas whenever the ball went to Hardik in the field but the biggest boo came when came on to bowl. Hardik, who didn’t bowl a single over in the last two matches against Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Capitals, brought himself on in the 10th over of the match. As soon as his name was announced by the announcer, loud boos echoed through Wankhede.
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The boos started to make way for Rohit Sharma chants in the middle of the over. They grew louder when Pandya was hit for a six in his last ball by Rajat Patidar.
Things, however, changed a lot during MI’s chase. Hardik was booed once again when he made his way into the centre but RCB legend Virat Kohli requested the crowd to stop heckling Pandya and asked them to cheer for their captain.
Hardik started his innings with a six over long on off Will Jacks. He hit another one off Vijaykumar Vyshak and then finished the match with a lovely scoop over covers off Akash Deep.
A whirlwind batting performance powered the Mumbai Indians to a stunning seven-wicket win over RCB. This was their second win after a hat-trick of losses and put them back in the race to playoffs. MI are now 7th in the points table.
Chasing 198 for victory, Ishan Kishan smacked 69 off 34 balls and then Suryakumar Yadav smacked 52 off only 19 balls as Mumbai crossed the finish line in 15.3 overs. Former MI captain Rohit Sharma also played a crucial knock of 38 off 24 balls.
It finished with 199-3 in reply to Bengaluru’s 196-8 in 20 overs with Dinesh Karthik scoring 53 not out off 26 balls.
Put into bat, Bengaluru’s batting faltered against Jasprit Bumrah who picked 5-21 in four overs and restricted the visitors to an under-par score.
“Always good to win. The way we have won – it’s quite impressive. That’s the beauty of this team, players know what to do. Blessed to have Bumrah in my side. He does it over and over again. He practices a lot. The amount of experience and confidence he has is tremendous,” Hardik said in the post-match presentation.
