IPL 2024: Fans chant Rohit Rohit after Hardik Pandya's wicket in SRH clash

In their second match of the season, Mumbai Indians faced off against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad where fans were treated to some incredible power-hitting displays from both teams. Despite the thrilling display of batting prowess, Mumbai Indians ended up on the losing side for the second time in a row in the ongoing mega event.

Interestingly, since the start of the IPL 2024 season, MI captain Hardik Pandya has been facing criticism and boos from the crowd at the stadium and on social media. In the last game, after Hardik scored a modest 24 runs off 20 balls and got out, fans started chanting "Rohit Rohit" and directed their boos towards Hardik as he made his way back to the dressing room. A user shared a video of this incident on 'X', and it quickly gained attention online.

Hardik Pandya, the losing captain, recognized the challenge of defending 277 runs, praising the opposition's batting and acknowledging the difficulty faced by his team's bowlers on a batting-friendly pitch. He expressed confidence in his young bowling attack's ability to improve and commended debutant Kwena Maphaka's performance.

"Not really (thought SRH would score 277 at the toss). The wicket was good, 277 no matter how bad or good you bowl, if the opposition has to score that much, they have batted well. They (the bowlers) were good, it was tough out there, almost 500 runs were scored and the wicket was helping the batters, we could have done a few things here and there, but having said that, we have a young bowling attack and we will learn.

"If the ball goes this many times into the crowd, you will need time to get the overs done. Everyone (the batters) looked good and it is just a matter of time before we put things right. He (Kwena Maphaka) was fantastic, coming into his first game and getting overwhelmed, he was alright and backed his skillset, just needs some game time," Pandya said in the post-match presentation.