NEWS
Follow UsHardik Pandya was the most ‘hated’ man in the country during the Indian Premier League 2024, where the all-rounder was booed wherever he travelled with Mumbai Indians after his move from Gujarat Titans.
While the all-rounder did not shut down the critics during the IPL, his performance for the national team, especially in the final, where he picked up three wickets, conceding just 20 runs, helped him turn a corner. Pandya finished the T20 World Cup 2024 with 144 runs at a strike rate of 151.57 and 11 wickets at an average of 17.36 with the ball.
The same fans who were booing the all-rounder now turned into supporters. Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who saw this transformation from close quarters, suggested that it is ‘part of a sportsman’s journey’ in a country like India.
“Sometimes we understand, we live in a country where emotion is the talking point. We understand fans get emotional. Players are emotional. It does affect that you are an Indian player, but your own fans are not speaking well,” Bumrah said on The Indian Express Adda.
"But you have to take it on your chin. How can you stop people? If you focus on yourself, you shut that door. It’s not that simple. They are screaming. You can hear it. But then your inner circle helps,” he added.
At the same time, Bumrah also made it clear that Hardik was always backed and supported within the Mumbai Indians’ dressing room.
“We as a team do not encourage that. We as a team were with him. We were talking to him. His family will always be there. Certain things are beyond your control. That narrative also changed when we won the World Cup,” Bumrah said.
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“You cannot take it seriously. Now that people are singing praises, it is not the be all or end all. When we lose a game, that narrative can change again. Because we play a sport that is so popular, every sportsman will go through all this. In football, we see fans booing people. The best players in the world face all these things. It’s a part of a sportsman’s journey. Things happen that are not a great spectacle. It is not fair. It is what it is. We live a great life; we have good things in our sport.”
“We as a team we cannot leave a man behind. We are there for each other. We are trying to help each other. I have played a lot of cricket with Hardik but it might be a youngster. It is ‘us against the world’. You do not want to introduce too much. We were together and trying to help him if he needed it,” Bumrah added.
Bumrah made his IPL debut way back in 2013 when he picked up three wickets in two games. But at that time, the speedster needed a lot more than just guidance, with the then-skipper Rohit Sharma handling the field setup for the pacer.
“When I came into cricket, I didn’t know a lot – when I started playing IPL – I used to go and tell Rohit Sharma, ‘you set the field, I don’t know. I am going to bowl this ball, you set the field & I trust you, whatever the field right you set the field’ – then slowly I realised I can’t be overly dependent on others then I started learning the craft,” he said.
However, over the years, the speedster has not just transformed his game but also has gone on to lead the Indian side in the one-off Test against England in 2023. Bumrah was one of the names that was thrown into the mix for a captaincy role, but workload management very quickly put him out of contention.
“I cannot go to the team and tell, now you have to make me captain. It is above my pay grade. I feel bowlers are smart people, as we have to get the batters out,” he said.
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