The IPL 2024 opener that includes Royal Challengers Bangalore and defending champions Chennai Super Kings guarantees to be an action-packed contest to get the seventeenth version of the Indian Premier League going, however the actual battle strains will likely be drawn on Sunday night as Hardik Pandya, captaining the Mumbai Indians for the primary time, squares off towards the staff he is aware of inside out – the Gujarat Titans. Two years in the past, Hardik left MI to start out a brand new chapter with the newly-introduced GT, and did relatively nicely, main the staff to a title win in 2022 and a runner-up end final 12 months.
Will Hardik Pandya get the remedy Aakash Chopra expects? (Twitter)
However, anticipated to be the face of the GT franchise, the tables turned dramatically when he not solely returned to MI in 2023 however was named their captain for the season forward. While MI followers have been fairly vocal in regards to the staff administration’s choice to switch Rohit Sharma with Hardik as captain, GT got here up with a name of their very own, elevating Shubman Gill to captaincy. Hence, when GT and MI start their campaigns, anticipate feelings to run excessive.
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However, former India batter Aakash Chopra has gone a step forward and desires the Ahmedabad crowd to boo Hardik when he walks out for the toss. Chopra, explaining his want, defined how he had witnessed one thing comparable as a participant means again in 2008 and added that he will not be stunned if Hardik is subjected to the identical remedy.
“I want Hardik Pandya to get booed in Ahmedabad. I’ll tell you why. First IPL season, Mumbai vs Kolkata. We were playing at the Wankhede Stadium. Ajit Agarkar was in our team and we had to take him off the boundary because he was Mumbai’s boy, playing against Mumbai, in Mumbai and getting booed by the Wankhede crowd. So we put him back inside the circle because it was not nice,” Chopra stated on Jio Cinema throughout the IPL 2024 schedule announcement on Thursday.
‘I want… No, I hope Hardik will get booed’
It is believed that after the choice to carry Hardik again to MI was made, captaincy was part of the deal. MI, who had made it a behavior to win not less than one IPL title each alternate 12 months – in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020 – had gone and not using a win for 3 consecutive seasons. And with Rohit Sharma already 36, managing the accountability of captaining the Indian staff in all three codecs, the administration believed the time for MI’s transition is now.
Chopra reckons nothing makes a league extra participating and emotionally-driven than the equation between a participant and the gang, and what higher option to inject extra adrenaline than a title-winning participant returning to his former dwelling floor representing the opposition. That’s what Chopra feels is greatest for business.
“Now Hardik Pandya goes to Mumbai after winning the championship once, leading the team to the final the next time. And not just that but choosing to leave the franchise. If there isn’t any heartburn in the public of Ahmedabad, if they don’t feel hurt, where is the fun? I am expecting. No, I am hoping – don’t tell anyone – that Hardik goes for the toss and people go ‘Boo’. That’s where the league matures,” the previous India opener talked about.
Source: www.hindustantimes.com
