Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya was once again booed by the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium during the IPL 2024 match against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday. Hardik has been on the receiving end of some negative reactions from the MI fanbase since replacing Rohit Sharma as the skipper. Things got worse as MI slumped to three back-to-back defeats in the competition but the past few games have witnessed a mini-resurgence for the side with two wins. During the last game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Virat Kohli was not pleased with the crowd booing Hardik and he requested them to cheer him and remember that he plays for the Indian cricket team.
However, it looks like Kohli's requests were in vain as Hardik was once again targeted with boos by the fans while loud chants of "Rohit Rohit" was also heard ahead of the start of the match.
Meanwhile, Hardik won the toss and opted to field against Chennai Super Kings.
"We would like to bowl first, dew will come into play. It (pitch) looks better than the last game, expecting a lot of runs. Need to stick to the basics. Winning is very important to get the momentum. We were able to win two games convincingly. That's the beauty about IPL, everyone has to contribute. Your team will be able to achieve goals eventually. The dew started coming post 10 overs (in the last game.) It gets heavier in the evening. Same team." Hardik said at the toss.
Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings Playing XIs -
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Hardik Pandya, Tilak Varma, Time David, Mohd Nabi, Romario Shepherd, Shreyas Gopal, Akash Madhwal Jasprit Bumrah, Gerald Coetzee
Subs: Suryakumar Yadav, Dewald Brevis, Naman Dhir, Nehal Wadhera, Harvik
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rachin Ravindran, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ajinkya Rahane, Sameer Rizvi, M.S. Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman
Subs: Matheesha Pathirana, Sindhi, Mitchell Santner, Moeen Ali, Adil Rasheed