Where are all the haters, says Hardik Pandya? After two months of non-stop boos, the all-rounder shut up his critics by smashing the Bangladeshi bowlers. Having made an unsuccessful switch from the Gujarat Titans to the Mumbai Indians, ‘fans’ let their dissent known.
Pandya received non-stop hate, whether it be from fans from his home state (Gujarat) or his adopted home (Mumbai). All he got was jeers. With a smile on his face, he took it all. If off-the-field stuff wasn’t enough already, the on-field performance didn’t make him happier, as the Mumbai Indians ended at the bottom of the table in IPL 2024.
Jeers turn into cheers for Hardik Pandya
So what does Hardik Pandya do when he enters the middle during the IND vs BAN T20 World Cup warm-up match? Well, he smashes everything into smithereens. He started things off slow, scoring just 5(6). But then he got into his groove.
In the 17th over of the first inning, he smashed left-arm spinner Tanvir Islam for three consecutive sixes. The first maximum, he hit straight over the bowler’s head; the second one was over long off; and the third, he smacked to the mid-wicket boundary.
After punishing the left-arm spinner, he went after leggie Rishad Hossain, against whom he scored 11 runs from just 4 balls. He also dispelled the doubts of him having any trouble facing a short ball as he took on Shoriful Islam in the last over and even injured him with a power stroke he struck directly towards him.
