Manoj Tiwary recently talked about the possibility of Hardik Pandya facing the wrath of Rohit Sharma and Mumbai fans at the Wankhede Stadium
Former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary recently talked about the possibility of Hardik Pandya facing the wrath of Rohit Sharma and Mumbai fans at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai when the team will play their first home game. Mumbai Indians played their first match of IPL 2024 against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on March 24.
As per the former cricketer, Rohit Sharma’s fans will openly express their disappointment with the Mumbai Indians team management and disregard the new captain Hardik Pandya. While returning back to his original venue in Ahmedabad, Hardik Pandya was brutally trolled and booed by the crowd.
Rohit Sharma, the joint most successful captain in the history of the IPL ( with MS Dhoni), was recently sacked from captaincy and was replaced by Hardik Pandya who was traded to Mumbai Indians from Gujarat Titans for an undisclosed amount of money.
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In a recent interview, Manoj Tiwary reflected on the possibility of Hardik Pandya getting a poor welcome from the fans at the Wankhede Stadium. He also discussed the lack of acceptance for the transition of captaincy by the fans in the Mumbai Indians Camp.
“You have to see how he gets welcomed here in Mumbai, because I think he is going to get booed a bit louder here, because as a fan, Mumbai fan or a Rohit Sharma fan, nobody expected that captaincy will be given to Hardik. And despite Rohit giving five trophies to Mumbai Indians, he has to lose the captaincy. I don’t know what are the reasons but I think it has not gone down well with the fans,” said Manoj Tiwary.
The former Indian cricketer highlighted that in order to gain a spot in the Playing XI in T20 World Cup, Hardik Pandya will have to bring his ‘A-Game’ and come back to his original form.
“I believe even if he was not booed, he has to perform well to get into the Indian team to play the World Cup. And him being the number one all-rounder, obviously he has to be in form, and to be in form, he has to perform,” Tiwary added.
Mumbai Indians will play their next match of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on March 27. The team will play their first match of the season in Mumbai against Rajasthan Royals on April 1.
