Though Royal Challengers Bengaluru lost the game against Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets in Wankhede, RCB’s star batter Virat Kohli once again won the hearts of many with his noble gesture in support of Hardik Pandya.
Virat Kohli Plea Wankhede Crowd to Support Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya received tons of criticism from Mumbai and Rohit fans after he replaced Rohit Sharma as the new captain of the Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2024 season.
Hardik even got booed by fans in his home venue – Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. But the allrounder didn’t express his feelings on any social media instead put all his effort into making the team better.
In this situation, MI lost their first home match against RR and won their next couple of matches in the Wankhede. During the MI vs RCB match on April 12, Hardik once again got booed by the crowd but Virat Kohli took the necessary action by asking the crowd not to boo him and instead suggest the fans to support him.
Kohli not appreciating the booing of hardik by Wankhede crowd. Telling them to cheer and reminding them he’s an India player #MIvsRCB 👌 pic.twitter.com/ok5SYa3AkA
— Vighnesh Rane (@Vighrane01) April 11, 2024
Following his request, the crowd abruptly changed the environment and started to chant “Hardik, Hardik”. This move by Virat Kohli received praise from cricket fans all around the world.
HARDIK HARDIK for you all at the ground #MIvsRCB We back and how ! pic.twitter.com/atzLBKi4CS
— Parshva (@ParshvaOP) April 11, 2024
Notably, this is not the first time for Virat Kohli to come forward in support of players on the field. Before this Virat Kohli asked fans not to show their disrespect towards Steve Smith who got back from his ban after the sandpaper scandal.
Virat Kohli supported many players including Steven Smith after Sandpaper Gate, Naveen Ul Haq in WC 2023, Shami on social abuse, and Rishabh Pant. Post the match, Hardik Pandya was seen hugging his former Indian captain Virat Kohli.
A @Jaspritbumrah93 special with the ball backed 🆙 by a power packed batting performance help @mipaltan win ✌ in ✌ 💙
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/Xzvt86cbvi#TATAIPL | #MIvRCB pic.twitter.com/ro7TeupAQj
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 11, 2024
As far as the match is concerned, Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bowl first where Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis opened the batting attack.
Kohli who registered the first century of the IPL 2024 failed to score big enough for his team and returned to the pavilion with a score of just 3 from 9 deliveries. Following his dismissal, Will Jacks who received his debut cap today failed to impress in his first game and scored only 8 runs and got dismissed by Akash Madhwal.
Maxwell still struggled to find his form back and got dismissed for a duck after facing four deliveries. Faf du Plessis who made some crucial runs from the other end finally got dismissed by Bumrah after scoring 61 runs off 40 deliveries.
With dinesh Karthik’s unbeaten 23 balls 53, RCB scored 196 runs for 6 wickets loss at the end of 20 overs. Apart from Faf du Plessis(61), Rajat Patidar(50) and Karthik (53) none of the remaining batters have crossed 10 runs mark.
On the other hand, Rohit and Ishan Kishan opened the inning and scored 101 runs for the first wicket. Akash Deep made the first breakthrough by dismissing Ishan Kishan who slammed 69 runs off just 34 balls at a strike rate of 202.94.
💯 Sixes for Ishan in the IPL 🥵#MIvRCB #TATAIPL #IPLonJioCinema pic.twitter.com/uHd3Q7muYG
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) April 11, 2024
Following his dismissal, debutant Will Jacks dismissed Rohit Sharma for 38 runs while Mumbai scored 139 runs in 11.2 overs. Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav joined hands for the third wicket while MI required 47 runs from 49 deliveries.
Vijaykumar Vyshak dismissed Suryakumar Yadav after scoring a quick-fire 52 off just 19 deliveries. With Hardik’s 6 balls 21, Mumbai comfortably defeated RCB by 7 wickets.
