MI vs RCB: Virat Kohli gestures Wankhede crowd to stop booing Hardik Pandya

MI vs RCB: Virat Kohli gestures Wankhede crowd to stop booing Hardik Pandya

Virat Kohli was not one bit impressed with the Wankhede Stadium crowd on Thursday when it welcomed Hardik Pandya with a loud round of booing. Kohli signaled to the crowd to stop the negative reception for the newly-appointed MI captain and urged the fans to get behind their skipper. The heartwarming gesture from Kohli went viral even as RCB were outclassed in a one-sided IPL 2024 match by the 5-time champions at the iconic venue.Â

MI vs RCB Highlights | Scorecard

Virat Kohli appeared disappointed as he heard boos welcome Hardik Pandya when the MI captain joined Suryakumar Yadav in the middle in the 12th over of their 197-run chase. Kohli appeared to gesture that Hardik plays for the country and that he didn’t deserve such a reception from the crowd at the Wankhede. Hardik has been at the receiving end of loud boos from fans, who are yet to come to terms with the change in captaincy at MI. While Rohit Sharma was cheered for every shot that he played on Thursday, Hardik found the going tough, in terms of reception from the fans.Â

Hardik Pandya was not booed so much at the toss, unlike their first home game earlier in the month. In their game against the Royals on April 1, Hardik was booed loudly at the toss and broadcaster Sanjay Manjrekar stepped in and urged the crowd to “behave”.

On Thursday, the first boos for Hardik Pandya came when he walked into bowl for the first time after the 2nd match of the IPL 2024 season. However, the loudest boos came when he walked out to bat – a sight that did not please Virat Kohli.Â

Virat Kohli kept interacting with the fans at the Wankhede Stadium as he had nothing much to do on the field when the Mumbai batters were sending them flying into the stands. MI chased down 197 in just 15.3 overs, making a mockery of the target and clinching their second successive win of the season after 4 losses on the trot.

When the Wankhede crowd urged RCB captain Faf du Plessis to give the ball to Virat Kohli with the famous “Kohli ko bowling do” chant, the batting star gestured to spare him of the horror as MI bowlers were sending everything into the stands on a dewy evening.Â

It was a stellar show of power-hitting from MI as Ishan Kishan smashed 69 off 34 while Rohit Sharma hit 38 off 24 balls. Suryakumar Yadav, playing his second game in IPL 2024, smashed 52 in just 19 balls.Â

Captain Hardik Pandya made sure MI raced to the target as he smashed 21 in just 6 balls, hitting 3 sixes en route.Â

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