[Watch] Virat Kohli asks Mumbai crowd to stop booing Hardik Pandya during MI vs RCB IPL 2024 clash

Hardik Pandya remained unbeaten on 21 to take MI to win over RCB.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter Virat Kohli was seen reprimanding the Mumbai crowd not to boo the MI captain Hardik Pandya and instead cheer for him. This happened in the recent IPL 2024 match between MI and RCB on Thursday, which the hosts won grandly.

The MI fans have not accepted Hardik Pandya as their new captain. Especially due to the manner he was traded in by MI owners from Gujarat Titans and it was reportedly claimed that captaincy was one of the things that Hardik wanted before he agreed to the trade.

Rohit Sharma, who won five IPL titles for MI in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020, was unceremoniously dumped from captaincy and since then Hardik Pandya has received massive boos and hooting from crowds not only in Mumbai but where ever he has gone to play.

This was amplified a lot as MI lost their first three matches as well, but since then, the franchise has bounced back with consecutive wins.

Unhappy Virat Kohli asks the Mumbai crowd to cheer for MI captain Hardik Pandya

The hostile reaction Hardik has received in the 2024 IPL continued throughout the MI-RCB matchup before Kohli intervened. When Hardik stepped out to bat after Rohit Sharma was dismissed during the home team’s run chase, Kohli was spotted imploring Mumbai fans inside the stadium to stop criticizing him and instead cheer him on.

In a video provided from inside the stadium, the ex-RCB captain was heard reminding the crowd that the MI captain represents India.

Watch here:

Virat’s actions immediately impacted, as the atmosphere at Wankhede Stadium immediately shifted. As Hardik prepared to face Will Jacks’s first ball of his innings, wild cries of ‘Hardik Hardik’ could be heard around the venue. The MI skipper replied by hitting the first delivery for a six.

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