'Want Hardik Pandya to get booed': Aakash Chopra reacts to Mumbai Indians opening campaign against Gujarat Titans

Former India cricketer and expert Aakash Chopra wants the crowd to boo Hardik Pandya when he takes his team Mumbai Indians to the Narendra Modi Stadium for a match against Gujarat Titans in IPL 2024. MI start their campaign away from home at GT on 24 March and this will be the first time Pandya will be returning to his former franchise whom he led to the IPL title in 2022 and to the final in 2023.

In a surprising move, Pandya rejoined Mumbai just ahead of IPL 2024 auction and was also later made the captain, replacing Rohit Sharma who has won five titles as a skipper at MI.

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Akash Chopra, while discussing the IPL 2024 schedule which was released on Thursday, said that Ahmedabad crowd jeering Pandya on his return will be good for the league as it will show that the tournament has ‘matured’.

“I want Hardik Pandya to get booed in Ahmedabad. I’ll tell you why. First IPL season, Mumbai vs Kolkata. We were playing at the Wankhede Stadium. Ajit Agarkar was in our team and we had to take him off the boundary because he was Mumbai’s boy, playing against Mumbai, in Mumbai and getting booed by the Wankhede crowd. So we put him back inside the circle because it was not nice,” Chopra said on JioCinema.

“Now Hardik Pandya goes to Mumbai after winning the championship once, leading the team to the final the next time. And not just that but choosing to leave the franchise. If there isn’t any heartburn in the public of Ahmedabad, if they don’t feel hurt, where is the fun? I am expecting. No, I am hoping – don’t tell anyone – that Hardik goes for the toss and people go ‘Boo’. That’s where the league matures.”

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MI are the joint-most successful side in IPL alongside Chennai Super Kings with five tittles each. Mumbai, however, last won in 2020 and have not been able to be consistent over the last three seasons.

Rohit’s poor form with the bat in IPL and MI’s trophy drought led to the franchise changing its captain. Now all eyes will be on Pandya and how he captains the team upon his return to the side which made the superstar that he is.