Nothing seems to be going right for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024 so far. MI have endured a torrid start to the tournament in the form of three back-to-back losses. Moreover, there are a lot of talks regarding new MI captain Hardik Pandya. Pandya has been subject to intense criticism, specially for his captaincy. He has been booed by the crowds in different grounds in the near-future as well. Former Australian captiain Michael Clarke feels Pandya’s predecessor Rohit Sharma has to intervene and put out a statement supporting Hardik in order to address the crowd’s hostility towards the MI skipper.
No statement from MI
A statement about the entire Hardik vs public drama has not yet been released by five-time champions MI, who named Hardik the captain. The closest anyone got to calming the unrest was Rohit, who asked the crowd to settle down when the jeers began to resound during the last over of MI’s match against Rajasthan Royals.
Rohit has to come out and say something: Clarke
“I feel it’s probably at a stage that if it keeps going, then Rohit Sharma has to come out and say something publicly and really support Hardik. You don’t like seeing that. I know it happens in sports but home fans booing is not ok. It’s not like Hardik made the decision to be captain. Mumbai Indians have made that decision; they brought him back and gave him the captaincy,” Clarke said on ESPN’s Around the Wicket.
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“I just hope him [Rohit] and Hardik are fine. Again, they have always gotten on pretty well. Rohit is a super guy and a great player so that’s the other thing. You probably need Rohit Sharma making runs as well for Mumbai to have the success that they’ve always had. But yeah, let’s get some wins if you’re Mumbai Indians. Hardik has got to keep playing well and hopefully the fans get behind the team and Hardik as captain,” he added.
