Mumbai Indians picked Hardik Pandya as their new captain, replacing Rohit Sharma. But this decision received a lot of backlash from fans. Jasprit Bumrah reflects back on that time when throughout the IPL, Pandya was brutally targeted and was booed everytime he was in the field. The situation turned even worse when the whole stadium together started to boo Pandya as soon as he stepped in for toss, Sanjay Manjrekar has to step in and ask the crowd to “behave.”
Star Indian Pacer Jasprit Bumrah highlighted the issue and spoke that MI backed Pandya firmly during the tough times.
“You have to take it on your chin. That’s where the inner circle comes in. We, as a team, don’t encourage that, we don’t promote that. We don’t think that’s warranted,” Bumrah told Indian Express.
“We were with him (Hardik), talking to him, if he needed support. Certain things are beyond your control. If it happened, it happened,” the pacer said.
“The narrative just changed, when we won the World Cup. This is part of the journey. It’s us against the world. We will try to give as much support as we can,” Bumrah said
The Mumbai Indians pacer also noted that in India, people are often driven by emotions, and it can impact a player when their own countrymen are critical. However, he emphasized the importance of taking such situations in stride and moving forward, as it is impossible to prevent everyone from expressing their opinions.
“We live in a country that’s driven by emotion. Fans get emotional and players are also emotional. It does affect that you’re an India player and sometimes your own fans are not speaking well of you. But it is the way it is. You’ve got to take it on your chin because how can you go out there and stop people?”
Things changed for Hardik Pandya after the T20 World Cup 2024, he received massive support and the whole narrative completely changed. Pandya scored 144 runs with a strike rate of 150 and also bagged 11 wickets.
During the World Cup final, his stellar performance of 3/20 while bowling helped India be at the drivers seat. He dismissed South Africa’s top batters, Heinrich Klassen and David Miller.
