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Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya found himself in the middle of crowd boos yet again as the franchise took on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match on Thursday. Hardik continues to remain a ‘villain’ for fans after the Mumbai franchise decided to name him the captain ahead of the IPL 2024 season, replacing Rohit Sharma. In the match against RCB, it was Virat Kohli who had to step in and try to rescue Hardik from the jeers. Virat even reminded fans that Hardik remains an India international player. Later, the two cricketers even shared an emotional moment on the field.
The match turned out to be a no-contest, with MI reaching the target of 197 runs with nearly 5 overs to spare. Hardik, who was in the middle when his franchise secured its second consecutive win of the season, even got a big brotherly hug from Kohli, who seemed to be empathetic towards the all-rounder’s situation. Here’s the video:
A @Jaspritbumrah93 special with the ball backed by a power packed batting performance help @mipaltan win in
Scorecard https://t.co/Xzvt86cbvi#TATAIPL | #MIvRCB pic.twitter.com/ro7TeupAQj
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 11, 2024
The moment truly signifies what Kohli felt for the under-fire Hardik, who probably remains the victim of a fan war in a T20 league that remains ruthlessly competitive.
After the match, Hardik was overawed by the nature of the Mumbai Indians’ victory, lauding his team’s batting unit in the chase of a tricky target.
“Always good to win. The way we have won – it’s quite impressive. The impact player has given the opportunity to use an extra bowler if we require. It gives me a cushion as well. At the same point, if someone is having a bad day, it helps us to cover those overs. The way Ro and Kishan batted, giving the platform, it was important for us to finish it early. We didn’t speak about it. That’s the beauty of this team, players know what the situation is. As soon as we saw the target get lesser, we thought we might as well finish it early for NRR.
Hardik even hailed Jasprit Bumrah who picked 5 wickets in the game against RCB, earning the Player of the Match award.
“Blessed to have Bumrah in my side. He does it over and over again. Any time I ask him to bowl, he comes and does what he does. He practices a lot. Before doing anything in the game, he makes sure he practices in the nets. The amount of experience and confidence he has is tremendous. I did tell him when he scored the fifty that welcome back (Surya). Always good to have Surya in your team with the areas he hits. I’ve been opposition captain as well against him, it’s tough to put field for him. Some place he hits, I’ve never seen batters hit there. (I’ll do) Whatever the situation requires – last game I had to take some time, and this game’s scenario was different. I’ve always been a fan of whatever the situation demands,” Hardik concluded.
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