Hardik Pandya’s captaincy stint for Mumbai Indians (MI) hasn’t got off to the best of starts in the ongoing IPL 2024 season.
Under his leadership, the five-time champions have lost their first three games. Amid the losses, Hardik is also facing the crowd backlash at different venues, including loud boos and ‘Rohit, Rohit’ chants.
On Monday (April 1), the MI skipper was booed by the fans at the Wankhede Stadium as soon as his name was called out before the toss against Rajasthan Royals (RR).
Meanwhile, former India head coach Ravi Shastri has extended his support to Hardik Pandya, saying that the latter deserves better support from the Mumbai fans and the new captain will need time to produce results.
Notably, Pandya completed a high-profile trade from Gujarat Titans (GT) to MI ahead of the IPL 2024 auction. Soon after the trade, the all-rounder was appointed captain by the management. He is succeeding Rohit Sharma, who led MI to five IPL titles in his 11-year stint as skipper.
"You have supported the team over the years. In just 2-3 matches, they won't be a bad team. They are 5-time champions, after all, they have a new captain. Just be patient, you know the bloke you're getting after is a human being like you. At the end of the day, he has to sleep in the night. So just think about it, be calm," Ravi Shastri told Star Sports.
"My thing to Hardik would be ‘calm, patient, ignore and then just focus on your game’. You get a couple of performances going..they are a terrific side, if they win 3-4 matches, everything will subside. You will, things will change," he added.
Shastri didn’t filter his words as he suggested that Hardik is facing the flak for no fault of his and the ugly behaviour from fans was directly related to MI removing Rohit from the leadership role.
"See, at the end of the day, this is not an Indian cricket team that is playing. This is franchise cricket. They have paid top dollar, they are the bosses. It's their entitlement as to who they want as captain," Shastri said.
"Where I think this could have been handled better is more clarity in communication. If you wanted as captain, say you're looking at the future, looking to build, we are doing a fabulous job as every one knows and we want him to help out Hardik in the next 3 years when the team is in progress. That communication should have come out a little more for all this to die down. It's not a case of you saying 'we don't want Rohit Sharma', or he was treated badly," he further remarked.
Ravi Shastri, meanwhile, slammed a section of fans of for spreading rumours on social media. The former India all-rounder said even he was misquoted by a few pages on social media, which sparked an unnecessary controversy.
"You know social media. All sorts of things will come out, there are a lot of bullcrap out there. Some of the stories out there are planted. It's just planted on other people's names. Ignorance is bliss," he said.
