Hardik Pandya breaks silence amid backlash over MI's three ...

Hardik Pandya is facing an unprecedented backlash from fans of Mumbai Indians after the team faced a humiliating six-wicket defeat against Rajasthan Royals at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, their home turf. The MI skipper played an impressive knock of 34 runs, the highest for his team, but Sanju Samson-led RR trounced Mumbai Indians with a clinical display. 

Hardik Pandya, known for his ability to thrive under pressure, came out with a social media post on Tuesday, which expressed his unfazed commitment for Mumbai Indians.

“If there's one thing you should know about this team, we never give up. We'll keep fighting, we'll keep going," Hardik Pandya said in a post on X, while sharing a picture with Mumbai Indians team.

Hardik Pandya's social media post came after he was booed by the Wankhede Stadium crowd, who were also ‘schooled’ by former Team India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar on how to behave. The new MI skipper is bearing the intense burden of replacing Rohit Sharma, who led Mumbai Indians to five IPL championship titles.

Trent Boult and Yuzvendra Chahal played a pivotal role in decimating Mumbai Indians' batting on Monday as they clinched three wickets each. Boult stamped his class as he dismissed three top class batters- Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, and Dewald Brevis-- for a golden duck. Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma were the only Mumbai Indian batters to offer some resistance against the clinical Rajasthan bowlers.

After the match, Hardik Pandya agreed that they could have done better and expressed confidence that going forward, Mumbai Indians will display more courage.

“We didn't start the way we wanted to. Tough night, tonight. Results, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't... But as a group, we believe we can pull off a lot of better things going forward and we just need to be more disciplined and show more courage," Hardik Pandya said in a post-match presentation.

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Published: 02 Apr 2024, 02:50 PM IST