A fan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium was seen trolling Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya amid the IPL 2024 clash against the Delhi Capitals. In a video that emerged on social media, the fan was seen suggesting not to trust the all-rounder on the field as he screamed on the top of his voice.
Hardik Pandya, who has been facing boos from almost all the stadiums, also faced the same treatment during Saturday's clash at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. While Rohit Sharma's name was met with some loud cheers, plenty of spectators booed Pandya when his name was announced before the match.
Hardik's struggles continued with the ball as he bowled two wicketless overs for 41 runs. With the bat, the 30-year-old hammered 46 runs off 24 deliveries, but the target of 258 proved to be a bridge too far and the five-time champions lost by 10 runs.
"We backed ourselves to do it" - Hardik Pandya
At the post-match presention, Pandya claimed that despite the target being a steep 258, they backed to achieve it, but felt that a lack of tactical adjustment against Axar Patel cost them. The Baroda-born cricketer claimed:
"This game is becoming more and more closer. It (the difference) used to be a couple of overs, now it’s becoming a couple of balls. Because of the kind of games and how the bowlers are under pressure, we backed ourselves to do it. If I had to pick something out, we could have taken a couple of more chances in the middle overs. The left-handers could have probably gone after Axar a little bit, it’s something we missed out in terms of game awareness."
The 10-run win lifted the Delhi Capitals to the 5th spot at the points table.
