Hardik Pandya’s stint as Mumbai Indians’ captain at the Wankhede stadium began with the home fans booing him at the toss. Such was the level of acrimony that Sanjay Manjrekar had to ask the spectators to ‘behave’ at the toss.
Hardik walked out to bat in the fourth over and slapped a triplet of fours off Nandre Burger in the sixth over. 29 runs came in the three overs after the PowerPlay, with 18 off them coming from the MI skipper in just 10 balls. Hardik perished to the wily Yuzvendra Chahal when he mistimed an attempted big hit to long on, falling for 34 off 21, 24 of which came in boundaries.
He launched a counterattack to give Mumbai Indians something to play with after Trent Boult did what he does best – snaring a wicket in the first over of the innings. He also had Rohit Sharma caught behind, and then trapped Naman Dhir leg before. With that, he amped up his tally of first-over wickets in the Indian Premier League to 25.
Hardik Pandya smashed 16 runs in one over of Nandre Burger. 🔥#TrentBoult #RohitSharma #HardikPandya #SanjuSamson #MI #RR #MIvRR #MIvsRR #IPL #IPL2024 #TATAIPL #TATAIPL2024 pic.twitter.com/9mzExGTSi4
— The Cricket TV (@thecrickettvX) April 1, 2024
