I think Hardik Pandya is going to get booed a bit louder in Mumbai: Manoj Tiwary

If one was given a choice to rank the most loyal fanbases of franchises featuring in the IPL, those of the Mumbai Indians, the Chennai Super Kings, and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru would be among the top three of almost every other individual. As someone being a part of the opposition, it is always been and will always be a nightmarish ordeal for a cricketer to face off against MI at the Wankhede, CSK at Chepauk, and RCB at the Chinnaswamy.

It is common knowledge that the support MI will be getting from the crowd filling the Wankhede would not be any different than any of the previous seasons, but the same can't be said about Hardik Pandya, the newly-appointed skipper of MI.

As known to everyone, Rohit Sharma is the joint-most successful captain in the history of the IPL, clinching a total of five IPL titles ever since he took over the wheel midway through the 2013 edition of the marquee tournament. However, the last three editions haven't been up to the mark for MI, with them finishing fifth, tenth (a record-low for the franchise), and fourth, in 2021, 2022, and 2023 seasons, respectively.

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Despite this, no one would've really envisaged the MI management to pass over the baton of captaincy from Rohit to Hardik, yes, the same person who just came into the mix after spending two whole seasons with the Gujarat Titans. Ever since the transference of captaincy was unveiled to the general public, social media has been at its most fiery self, inducing plethora of resentment from supporters and pundits alike. This was further testified via the game between GT and MI a few days back, where Hardik wasn't spared one bit by the crowd, being critically booed every time his face appeared on the big screen.

In the same vein, ex-Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary had the same intuition, with him having a sixth sense that Hardik would get scorned much more by patriots of MI as well as those of Rohit at the home of MI, the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, due to the unforeseen change in captaincy. 

"You have to see how he gets welcomed here in Mumbai, because I think he is going to get booed a bit louder here, because as a fan, Mumbai fan or a Rohit Sharma fan, nobody expected that captaincy will be given to Hardik," Tiwary was quoted as saying by the Indian Express. 

He also opined that he himself didn't have much clue as to why Rohit had to hand over captaincy to Hardik, especially considering the immense heights to which he has led the franchise over the years, but was extremely sure of the fact that that decision hasn't been comprehensible to supporters.

"And despite Rohit giving five trophies to Mumbai Indians, he has to lose the captaincy. I don't know what are the reasons but I think it has not gone down well with the fans," stated Tiwary.

Also Read: There is no Hardik Pandya in Gujarat Titans to tell the bowlers what to bowl: S Sreesanth

Tiwary believes Pandya will have to block off the noise and focus on his performances

The 38-year-old stressed the need for Pandya to eliminate distractions and give his best for being in prime contention for the T20 World Cup to be played in June, later this year. He also stated that him being the number one all-rounder, it was all the more crucial for him to be in the best state possible for him to be able to perform at his optimal best.

"I believe even if he was not booed, he has to perform well to get into the Indian team to play the World Cup. And him being the number one all-rounder, obviously he has to be in form, and to be in form, he has to perform," Tiwary said.