New Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya continued to be on the receiving end of fans' ire as he was booed again by the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium in MI's first home game of this Indian Premier League season against Rajasthan Royals while chants of Rohit Sharma's names filled the ground. (Match Blog | Scorecard | Streaming)
As the name of MI skipper was announced ahead of the toss, crowd's ire fell on him as he was booed by a section of fans. As Pandya lost the toss and started to speak, fans did not relent. Crowd's reaction was so strong that presenter and former India player Sanjay Manjrekar was forced to intervene. Manjrekar told the crowd to "behave" amid the jeers.
At the same time, chants of Rohit, Rohit filled the stadium. The former MI skipper was on the ground and training at that time.
In the run up to the season, Pandya was traded from the Gujarat Titans into the Mumbai Indians and subsequently made the captain of the franchise in place of Rohit Sharma, who had led the team to five IPL trophies.
The India all-rounder was booed even as the teams were training ahead of the match.
The crowd was in no mood to let up as Pandya was again booed when he came out to bat in the fourth over. The reactions from the Sachin Tendulkar stand were the harshest.
Additionally, PTI reported quoting officials at the stadium that the banners brought by the fans were confiscated due to an election commission directive given to the Mumbai police.
Mumbai Indians had another forgettable outing with the team scoring just 125/9 after being told to bat first by the RR skipper Sanju Samson.
Pandya was the top scorer with a 21-ball 34 but could not pull MI out of danger as he miscued one off Yuzvendra Chahal and fell as the fifth wicket even before the tenth over.
Hardik Pandya's captaincy has been under the scanner after MI have failed to register a win in their first two games of the season.
