'Behave': Sanjay Manjrekar Schools Crowd as Hardik Pandya Gets Booed Again

Mumbai: Playing their first home match of the Indian Premier League 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday, skipper Hardik Pandya was yet again booed by the crowd. At the toss, former cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar even instructed the Wankhede crowd to behave.

"Big round of applause to Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya, and behave," Manjrekar had said. But Manjrekar's appeal fell on deaf ears. This time the Baroda all-rounder, who was once again back to Mumbai Indians, after playing for two seasons for Gujarat Titans, was booed at his home ground.

Hardik, who was aggressive while he was batting and made a quick fire 34 off just 21 balls, was booed at the toss in their game against Rajasthan Royals. This was not the first time when Hardik, who has represented India in all the three formats - Tests, ODIs and T20s, was booed in the cash rich tournament.

When Mumbai Indians had faced Gujarat Titans in their lung opener at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Hardik was booed by the crowd in the Gujarat city.

Fans are miffed with Mumbai Indians for replacing Hardik Pandya with India skipper Rohit Sharma, who has led the franchise to five IPL titles. The fans cannot see Rohit Sharma playing under Hardik and hence the he is being booed, perhaps.

Just before the all-important game, the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) had refuted all the rumours that the cricket body had instructed security guards against spectators who support Rohit or Hardik.

"There are rumours that MCA has instructed security against ppl who support Rohit or boo hardik, while we know this is incorrect. This is baseless rumours, and no instructions like this has been given, We are following BCCI guidelines on crowd behaviour policy is what MCA follows," a source had told ETV Bharat.

It has not been a good season for Hardik Pandya led side as they have lost both their matches. Even in the ongoing game against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai had lost six of their wickets below the score of 100.

This is not the first instance when the Mumbai crowd has booed an Indian cricketer or a star. The social media was flooded with posts on Hardik Pandya witha user Ramesh Srivats posting cryptic X post.

"Hardik Pandya gets booed in Wankhede itself.He was much happier in Gujarat - Dry state, so no boos," Srivats said in post on X formerly known as Twitter.

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