Mumbai: Former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwari feels that captain Hardik Pandya will face more booing when Mumbai Indians play their first home IPL (IPL 2024) match here on April 1. May have to face. Tiwari, however, believes that the all-rounder has the patience required to deal with such situations.
Hardik, who replaced Rohit Sharma as Mumbai captain before the start of the season, was booed by fans in Ahmedabad when he played against his former franchise Gujarat Titans on Sunday. Mumbai Indians lost to the Titans by six runs and will play their first home match against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday next week.
“You have to see how he is welcomed here in Mumbai,” Tiwari said in an interview to PTI video. I think he is going to be booed a little more here because as a fan, as a Mumbai fan or a Rohit Sharma fan, no one expected the captaincy to be given to Hardik.”
He said, “Rohit gave five trophies to Mumbai Indians, yet he had to lose the captaincy. I don’t know what the reason is but I guess the fans didn’t like it. And you are seeing the same reaction on the field.” However, Tiwari is impressed with the way Hardik dealt with the situation.
He said, “Whatever I have been seeing through television recently, despite the booing he maintained his composure, he did not get nervous which is a sign of good nature.” West Bengal Sports Minister Tiwari said that Hardik will have to focus on his performance so that he remains in good shape for the T20 World Cup starting in America and West Indies from June 1.