Hardik Pandya should stay as far away from social media as possible, at least for now. He perhaps seems unaffected by the occasional boos and chants of ‘Rohit Sharma’ at the stadiums where Mumbai Indians have played so far. IPL2024 but the toxicity that manifests itself on social networks exceeds the levels.
If you are trolling Hardik left and right, abusing him for his captaincy decisions and blaming him for allegedly ignoring former MI captain Rohit’s suggestions were not enough, now Hardik has been accused of pushing the legend of Sri Lanka and current MI bowling coach Lasith Malinga.
Videos circulating on social media show Hardik pushing Malinga away as the MI great tried to hug him after Mumbai Indians’ defeat against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad. Hardik can be seen dodging Malinga’s embrace and moving forward to shake hands with SRH players and support staff.
This wasn’t the only episode of Pandya-Malinga on Wednesday that fans were upset about. Before the pushing incident, Malinga was seen getting up from his chair and walking away so Pandya could sit in the dugout. The incident happened when Pandya was in reinforcement, supposed to come in at number 5 in MI’s chase. Maling was sitting next to Kieron Pollard, the MI assistant coach when the MI captain turned to them. It was Pollard who wanted to get up first to allow Pandya to sit down, but Malinga did so instead and walked away from the stage. Pollard and Malinga can then be seen chatting.
What irked the fans was that Pandya did not stop the senior professional from giving up his seat even once. However, what fans may be overlooking is that Pandya was due to arrive next and this is a common practice in the dugout to make the XI players feel comfortable.
MI come second in record match against SRH
Records tumbled as Sunrisers Hyderabad went on a rampage to post the highest-ever IPL total of 277 for 3 against Mumbai Indians before sealing a 31-run win in a powerful contest that left bowlers from both perplexed sides.
SRH opener Travis Head (62 off 24) and number three Abhishek Sharma (63 off 23) produced a sensational display of power hitting which saw the latter snatch the franchise record for fastest fifty from the Australian in a few minutes.
Heinrich Klaasen (80 not out from 34 balls) finally provided the fireworks to help SRH break an 11-year-old record. The previous highest total in IPL was 263 for five made by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013. This was also the highest total recorded in a T20 league. Mumbai’s bowlers were shocked by SRH’s six-hit streak, but their batters scored a goal and made it a game with what looked like one-way traffic at the innings break. Eventually, they finished at 246 for five in 20 overs.
It was MI’s second defeat this season in as many matches. To top it all, Pandya’s form with bat and ball has been poor and some of the captaincy decisions are questionable. We have a feeling that the star Indian all-rounder would have to put in some solid performances on the field to silence the trolls.