The unheard-of jeers directed against an Indian cricket player
Pandya, who was traded from his former team, the Gujarat Titans, has joined India’s all-around captain Rohit Sharma at the Mumbai Indians for the 2024 Indian Premier League, which got underway on March 23. The 30-year-old seam-bowling all-rounder spent his first seven IPL seasons with the Mumbai Indians until 2021, during which he was a part of four championship-winning teams under Sharma’s direction.
The relocation from Mumbai surprised a lot of people. The team has had many legendary captains in the past. After the selection of Pandya, Mumbai will have had five captains since the team’s founding in 2008, including Rohit Sharma, Ricky Ponting, and Sachin Tendulkar.
Fans of Mumbai, nevertheless, have not taken it lightly. They think that Sharma, who is tied with MS Dhoni for the most victories as a captain in the league, was removed from the captaincy because he refused to give it up. And they are communicating their feelings to Pandya.
When the Mumbai captain faced his previous team, the Gujarat Titans, whom he guided to multiple IPL finals, including the 2022 championship, he was met with angry applause by Ahmedabad fans last week. When Mumbai played Sunrisers Hyderabad in the southern city of Hyderabad, the jeers persisted.
Commentator Sanjay Manjrekar asked the audience to “behave” after Pandya was subjected to taunts from supporters during Monday night’s home match between Mumbai and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Wankhede Stadium.
But that was not quite enough to quiet the mob. When Pandya failed to make a tough catch, the jeers came back, and Pandya only received applause when he struck a couple boundaries. The fact that the Royals prevailed and handed Mumbai its third straight loss didn’t help either.
The spin wizard Ravichandran Ashwin, who represents the Rajasthan Royals, has criticized spectators for their actions and said that Pandya’s jeers are the result of India’s “fan wars.”
“It’s important for people to recognize which nation these athletes represent. It is our nation. On his YouTube channel, he stated, “Fan wars should never take such an ugly route.”
Legends of Indian cricket like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, and Rahul Dravid all captained each other during their playing careers without facing a great deal of criticism from the fans, according to Ashwin.
Sachin Tendulkar coached Sourav Ganguly, and vice versa. Rahul Dravid was the coach of both of these players. Each of these three has experience playing under MS Dhoni and under Anil Kumble. These players were cricket jambhavans (giants) when they were coached by Dhoni. Virat Kohli was also Dhoni’s coach.
Under Pandya, Mumbai has lost three straight games in the IPL this season. In addition, Ashwin questioned if other countries that play cricket have “fan wars” of this nature.
Have you witnessed, for example, a brawl between Joe Root and Zak Crawley’s supporters? Or do fans of Joe Root and Jos Buttler spar? It’s absurd. Do you witness Australian supporters of Pat Cummins and Steven Smith fighting?”
Trent Boult, the pace bowler for the Rajasthan Royals, has also supported Pandya, a former teammate, and advised him to “block out white noise”.
As professional athletes, you have little control over it; it’s something you are sort of exposed to. It’s easier said than done, but you have to tune out the distractions and concentrate on the task at hand,” Boult
Fans are claiming that cricket players are too sensitive on social media sites like X and Reddit, exercising their right to free speech. They contend that athletes who accept love must equally put up with taunts and jeers.According to sports writer Sharda Ugra, Pandya’s jeering was highly unusual.
“You have seen fans jeer players at other stands, but not in this persistent way… from one field to another and to a third field, which is his home field… Ugra, a writer on cricket since 1989, adds, “It’s pretty unusual.”
“I believe social media is mostly responsible for that. “It seems like a regular occurrence at every Mumbai Indians game,” she continues. Many feel that by providing no explanation when asked about the change in captaincy, Mumbai and Pandya made matters worse.