Former Gujarat Titans captain Hardik Pandya was received with a huge mocking reception from the Ahmedabad crowd at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Apart from the booing by the crowd, fans also taunted the new Mumbai Indians captain with chants when a dog entered the playing field during the match.
Gujarat Titans, now led by Shubman Gill, hosted Mumbai Indians, now led by Hardik Pandya, in Ahmedabad. Pandya was regularly booed by the huge 80,000-strong crowd assembled inside the Narendra Modi Stadium. Pandya has also been trolled and lambasted by MI fans on social media, and a stronger reaction from the Wankhede crowd is likely awaited when MI play there.
During the first half of the match, when MI were bowling, a dog sprinted across the outfield of the ground. This caused a hold up in play. The dog even went past Hardik Pandya once.
As the dog ran on the field, the fans chanted “Hardik Hardik” to taunt their former captain, who left them to return to MI ahead of the IPL 2024 auction.
[Watch] Ahmedabad Crowd Chants ‘Hardik Hardik’ When A Dog Entered The Field To Taunt Hardik Pandya
![[Watch] Ahmedabad Crowd Chants 'Hardik Hardik' When A Dog Entered The Field To Taunt Hardik Pandya](https://thecricketlounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG_7294.webp)
Pandya was booed by the crowd at the toss and then whenever he bowled and came to bat.
Gujarat Titans put on a spirited bowling performance to defend what seemed a par or even under-par total of 168. After 14 overs in the chase, MI needed 48 from 36 with 7 wickets in hand. However, Rashid Khan, Mohit Sharma, and Spencer Johnson bowled five excellent overs to give Umesh Yadav 19 runs to defend in the last over.
![[Watch] GT vs MI: Hardik Pandya Got Booed By Ahmedabad Crowd At Toss](https://thecricketlounge.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/shardul-2024-03-24T194844.672.webp)
Umesh was smoked for a 6 and 4 by Hardik Pandya on the first two balls, but the senior pacer stormed back by dismissing Pandya via a bouncer. Umesh sealed the game and GT won by 6 runs.
Hardik said: “Obviously we backed ourselves to chase those 42 runs but it was one of those days when we see the score quite less compared to what it could have been in five overs, I think we lost little bit of momentum there.”
