There was some reprieve for Hardik Pandya at last as the Mumbai Indians’ captain did not face crowd hostility at the Wankhede Stadium here during their IPL clash against Delhi Capitals on Sunday.
With the stands mostly filled with around 18,000 children from various NGOs as the match was being played on the ESA (Education and Sports for All) day for the Reliance Foundation, the noise was all about cheering for the home team.
Pandya had hitherto been booed and subjected to fans’ anger in the first three matches played at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad as well as the Wankhede.
The 29-year-old Pandya became the target of fans inside the stadiums as well as off it on social media ever since he left his former franchise Gujarat Titans to rejoin Mumbai Indians, replacing Rohit Sharma as the skipper of the five-time IPL winning side.
Before Sunday's game, former India captain and ex BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had urged the fans to stop booing Pandya, saying that it was not the player’s fault that he was brought back into the side as captain.
"I don't think they should boo Hardik Pandya. It's not correct," Ganguly told the media here on Saturday during Delhi Capitals’ training session.
"The franchisee has appointed him as captain. It's not Hardik's fault that he's been appointed as captain. All of us need to understand that.
"Obviously, with Rohit Sharma he's a different class. His performance for this franchise, his performance for India has been at a different level as captain and as a player," added Ganguly, who is also the director of cricket for Delhi Capitals.
Pandya was booed throughout Mumbai Indians’ first home game against Rajasthan Royals here on April 1, when former India and Mumbai cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar had urged the fans to ‘behave’ when he was conducting the toss.
