Opinion! Hardik Pandya Getting Booed By Mumbai Indians Fans In IPL 2024 - A Baffling Act Driven By Senseless Emotion

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Cricket is said to be a team sport, but sometimes it just doesn't feel that. And the latest saga of Hardik Pandya and the ongoing tussle with fans epitomizes that feeling.

Hardik Pandya has been under the pump since he was appointed Mumbai Indians captain. The Indian all-rounder has been hurled with abuses, boos, and hate speeches by the fans across the stadiums this IPL 2024 season.

Ever heard a cricket match anchor telling the fans to 'Behave'? Sanjay Manjrekar had to go to that extreme bit at the Wankhede Stadium recently when the Mumbai Indians fans were booing their own captain during the toss.

It has been an ongoing thing for a long time. Since Hardik joined Mumbai Indians, the Gujarat Titans fans were bemused, but when he replaced Rohit Sharma as MI captain, even his own team's supporters turned their back.

Prior to the start of the IPL, Hardik was ridiculed on social media, and that continued in multiple folds after the start. Hardik was vehemently booed at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Although we can understand given he was a GT captain, the past two matches in Hyderabad and especially in Mumbai have been baffling.

It is not a First Time in Indian Cricket

The fans and social media in the country feel Rohit Sharma playing under Hardik Pandya is a sin or a massive offence. But it has happened many times in Indian cricket. From the Golden Years to now, we have seen captains change and the teams get on with it. Even Ravichandran Ashwin had the same question.

"I think it is the responsibility and onus of the fans. Why are you pretending
like this hasn't happened before? Tendulkar has played under Ganguly & both men played under Dravid. All of them have played under Dhoni as well. This is a complete cinema culture. These guys are our own cricketers. Why do you boo your own player," Ravichandran Ashwin asked recently.

The Immense Toxicity of Social Media

Social media can be a funny place sometimes. It can take anyone to sky high and then crash the same person down within moments. However, the ongoing issue of Hardik Pandya is not at all solicited. The toxicity regarding Pandya's name has metastasized to the core of people and somehow the sane mind has succumbed to illogical emotion.

Hardik Pandya's captaincy at MI was not chosen by himself. He may have had the will to lead the team but it was the Mumbai Indians team management who put the stamp. Rohit Sharma is a stalwart of Mumbai and the sudden demotion from captaincy is a glaring change, but that doesn't give the free pass for people to bash Pandya and say ill words.

Is it a Matter of Agenda Peddling?

The ex-players, and cricket pundits have spoken in favour of Hardik Pandya, but the voice is still not robust enough. Harsha Bhogle recently asked people to stop getting into these social media traps and explained a possible reason for this treatment of Hardik Pandya.

"I think it's an open secret that Rohit Sharma was violently trolled, but Rohit Sharma's fans are now violently trolling Hardik Pandya. We should never underestimate the importance of shaking hands after the game. And now there are these groups in social media who are getting after each other. And everyone's assuming that is what the game is," Bhogle said.

The Onus Is On True Cricket Fans to Stop This Madness

But taking cue on that, the onus is on to the sane-minded people. The social media troll culture makes one a laughing stock without any valid reason, but the longevity depends on the larger section who decides to go with the flow and join the trollers. In Hardik's case, the small-scale agenda got pace courtesy of a large scale of people joining in without any proper reason.

People are trolling, abusing Hardik Pandya 'Just For the Sake of It', and the set of Mumbai Indians fans who 'Booed' him in the last match mustn't love Mumbai Indians, as much as they love these agendas of targeting a singular person.

It's high time we take the mirror and look into ourselves. An Indian cricketer getting grotesque treatment for replacing a captain is both ludicrous and alarming. So the onus is solely on 'You' as an individual to mark yourself safe from the ongoing madness of cheap emotion.