Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya was booed by fans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad at the toss ahead of the team's Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) opener against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Sunday.
Pandya enjoyed a successful run as the captain of Gujarat, leading them to title victory in 2022 and a runners-up finish last year. However, his two-year stint with GT ended as he moved back to his old franchise, Mumbai.
The talismanic all-rounder was traded to Mumbai in an all-cash deal, a move which made headlines ahead of the season. Furthermore, he also replaced Rohit Sharma as MI captain, which irked several MI supporters.
Pandya was greeted with boos in Ahmedabad after Ravi Shastri introduced the two captains at the toss.
You can watch the video below:
Pandya is set to return to cricketing action in IPL 2024 after being on the sidelines since sustaining an ankle injury during the 2023 ODI World Cup last year in October.
Hardik Pandya won the toss for MI and elected to field first against GT
Mumbai won the toss and chose to field first in their IPL 2024 opener against GT in Ahmedabad. Speaking at the toss, Hardik Pandya expressed his gratitude to Gujarat fans.
Pandya mentioned that while he was born in Gujarat, his cricketing birth happened in Mumbai, courtesy of MI. The 30-year-old said:
"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."
Here are the two playing XIs for the GT vs MI clash:
GT: Shubman Gill(c), Wriddhiman Saha(w), Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Umesh Yadav, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Spencer Johnson
MI: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Shams Mulani, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Jasprit Bumrah, Luke Wood
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