MUMBAI: As expected, new Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya was booed at the toss by the Wankhede Stadium crowd during the Mumbai Indians' first home game of IPL 2024, against the Rajasthan Royals, even as the spectators kept chanting former MI captain Rohit Sharma's name.
In what must be the first instance of its kind, the booing prompted former India batsman-turned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar to tell the crowd to "behave".
"Got the two captains with me. Hardik Pandya, captain of the Mumbai Indians. Big round of applause ladies and gentlemen, behave!," Manjrekar said, as the crowd booed Pandya once Manjrekar announced his name.
To Pandya and MI's relief, the crowd did cheer for the 30-year-old when he hammered six fours in his 21-ball 30-run cameo after MI were asked to bat first by the Royals.
Sensing that the crowd was constantly booing Pandya, Rohit, fielding on the boundary, urged them to stop booing.
Since he took over the MI captaincy from Rohit, Pandya has been booed by the crowds in MI's first two matches of this IPL season in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad too.
Pandya can take heart from the fact that several star India cricketers, including Virat Kohli (during an IPL match in 2013) and Harbhajan Singh, and on one occasion (in a Test against England in 2006) even the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, have been the target of boos by a section of the Wankhede crowd, which can at times get carried away.
Before the match began, the MI supporters, many of whom were carrying posters backing Rohit, were left disappointed as they were asked to leave their banners and posters outside the stadium by the police.
It's learnt that the cops were following the instructions from the Election Commission of India that barred any posters/ banners carrying political messages inside the venue, and in doing so, ended up telling the fans to leave all their posters outside the stadium.
It's learnt that several cops had been deployed in plain clothes to keep an eye on miscreants in the crowd, who could potentially come up with any objectionable act.
