 "Hardik Pandya receives hostile welcome in Ahmedabad as MI lose yet another IPL season-opener")
It’s only been three days since the 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) got underway in Chennai, and fans have already been treated to consecutive nail-biting finishes over the weekend.
In both thrillers, it was the captain of the visiting team going up against his former franchise that ended up on the losing side. That too from a position from where victory appeared well within reach. And both matches witnessed extraordinary final overs in which the bowler managed to keep their nerves in check after getting hit for a boundary or two, and responded brilliantly with a couple of wickets to seal the deal.
Pat Cummins and Hardik Pandya were making their debuts as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Mumbai Indians (MI) captains respectively. Cummins travelled to the Eden Gardens where SRH suffered a four-run loss against his old team Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a high-scoring game in which both teams posted 200-plus totals.
Pandya, on the other hand, returned to Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium for the first time since his high-profile trade in November, and was hoping to begin his reign as MI captain with a win against the team that he had led to back-to-back finals, including the title on debut in 2022.
Mumbai had been vanquished on two previous visits to Ahmedabad, including last year’s Qualifier 2, and appeared favourites at one point on Sunday evening to snap the winless run. They needed just 43 more runs to win off 30 balls with seven wickets and a well-set Dewald Brevis at the crease. The outfield was also covered in dew, making the prospect of a Titans victory even more unlikely.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe five-time champions could’ve strolled past the finish line from that point onwards; instead, they would implode in the fact of some spectacular bowling and fielding in the death overs from GT, resulting in MI losing their tournament opening game for the 12th season in a row.
Read | Mumbai Indians' first match jinx continues in the IPL
There sure were a few positives for the Mumbai Indians, from Jasprit Bumrah’s spectacular return to the IPL after two years with figures of 3/14 and Dewald Brevis striking the ball cleanly to newcomers Gerald Coetzee and Naman Dhir putting up impressive performances in their maiden outings in the blue and gold jerseys. Former skipper Rohit Sharma too was in fine nick, as evidenced by his knock of 43 off 29 deliveries.
However, there was one stark difference between SRH and MI’s defeats on Saturday and Sunday respectively, and that has got more to do with the circumstances in which Cummins and Pandya joined their respective franchises, which translated to vastly different receptions at their old stomping grounds.
Pandya jeered by Motera crowd on debut as Mumbai captain
Cummins wasn’t targeted by the Eden crowd on return to the venue where he had played as a member of the home team for five seasons in two separate stints. After opting to skip the 2023 edition to focus on key international assignments, Cummins had been released into the player pool ahead of the auction, where he was eventually picked up for a jaw-dropping Rs 20.5 crore by the ‘Orange Army’ and later named skipper , replacing South Africa’s Aiden Markram in the role.
Pandya’s move to MI from GT, however, isn’t really a trade as much as it is a heist. Franchises in the world’s biggest T20 league, after all, simply do not part ways with a player that they’ve made their captain and included as the first retention ahead of the auction. GT had an entire future mapped out with Pandya at the helm, assisted by the wily cricketing brain that is former India pacer Ashish Nehra, who has served as head coach.
For a player as important to the franchise as Pandya was in his two seasons with the Titans, his sudden pullout ahead of the player auction would’ve certainly come as a shock for many a team official, and would’ve rubbed some of the bigwigs the wrong way. And it’s not just GT where his move wasn’t well received, as Pandya replacing Rohit as MI skipper had been met with a massive backlash from fans of that team, and will likely have not been welcomed by certain members of the existing setup either.
There are few things more difficult for an athlete to contend with in sport than the wrath of fans, especially the ones who had been your most ardent supporters not too long ago but now feel betrayed, as Pandya found out in his first outing at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium since the captaincy drama in Mumbai.
🚨 Toss Update 🚨@mipaltan won the toss and elected to field against @gujarat_titans
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 24, 2024
Watch the match LIVE on @JioCinema and @StarSportsIndia 💻📱
Follow the match ▶️ https://t.co/oPSjdbb1YT
#TATAIPL | #GTvMI pic.twitter.com/SD45ApFufX
The all-rounder, who had only two years ago delivered the title to the Titans at this very venue and nearly pulled off a repeat last year, was booed from the moment he showed up at the toss with a blue bandana on his head till the time he attended the post-mach presentation interview in the slot that is usually reserved for the losing captain.
At the toss, in which Pandya chose to field keeping the dew factor in mind, Pandya tried to play the balancing game while crediting both Gujarat and Mumbai for his cricketing journey.
“Feels good to be back. My birthplace is Gujarat, a lot of success came in Gujarat, very grateful to the crowd and this state. My cricketing birth happened in Mumbai, so really good to be be back,” Pandya told cricketer-turned-broadcaster Ravi Shastri during toss, his sentences nearly drowned in a chorus of boos from the eighty thousand-plus spectators at the world’s biggest cricket stadium.
That was to be the routine for the remainder of the evening, as Pandya was met with jeers every time he was in the spotlight, from his perplexing decision to open the bowling despite the presence of one Jasprit Bumrah to him barking orders at former leader Rohit, asking him to run around the field and stand at positions that could be considered unusual for him.
CSK kanni எனக்கே கஷ்டமா இருக்குடா 🥲 pic.twitter.com/HkkBppWKye
— Navin Chakaravarthy 🦇 (@navin_offl) March 24, 2024
Pandya, however, appeared to have found a way to insulate himself from the brickbats that he was being subjected to from the stands, and the manner in which he conducted himself and led his team in such trying circumstances certainly is commendable and a great sign for the Mumbai Indians.
Pandya’s determination to begin his tenure as MI captain was all the more visible when he had walked out to bat at a time when the momentum was slowly beginning to tilt in favour of the home team. He had collected a single off the only delivery that he had faced until the start of the final over, in which Mumbai were left needing 19 off six deliveries with three wickets in hand and all the set batters in the dugout.
The tried-and-tested finisher that he is, the skill of which he had developed in his first run at MI, Pandya smashed Umesh for a six and a four in the first two deliveries to instantly bring the equation down to nine off four, with Mumbai suddenly the favourites once again.
In an attempt to finish things off in style, Pandya went for a wild pull down the ground on the third delivery, and this time wasn’t able to clear the boundary rope, getting caught by Rahul Tewatia. The all-rounder was beset with himself, throwing his gear in disgust after making his way to the dugout, reminding the viewer just how badly he wanted to win this contest against his former teammates.
The huge cheer on Hardik Pandya's Dismissal shows how worse things have become for him.
— Abhishek (@vicharabhio) March 24, 2024
The fans were totally against him.pic.twitter.com/aJVJFaKnhC
Piyush Chawla would perish the very next delivery for a golden duck, pulling straight to deep midwicket. Umesh would then concede a single off each of the last two deliveries to emulate Harshit Rana's heroic final over against SRH on Saturday night.
During the post-match presentation, Pandya was asked about middle-order batter Tilak Varma turning down singles during the 17th over, seemingly shielding non-striker Tim David from star leg-spinner Rashid Khan. The required rate that had been climbing during in the death overs suddenly read 12 after just three singles were collected in Khan’s over. Maybe rotating the strike in that over and even pushing for an extra run might’ve led to a very different outcome for Mumbai.
Pandya, however, chose to back Tilak instead of criticising him, once again highlighting his qualities as a leader.
“I think Tilak felt that was a better idea at that point of time. I completely back him. Not an issue, 13 games to go,” was what Pandya said , which will no doubt boost Tilak’s confidence greatly and could translate to match-winning knocks later in the season.
It certainly wasn’t a pleasant welcome for Pandya in Ahmedabad on Sunday, but we’d be naive to assume he wasn’t mentally prepared for the same. The way Pandya conducted himself in the face of such hostility, however, should give the Mumbai Indians owners belief that their massive decision in December ahead of the player auction was perhaps the right call after all.
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