“You should stay in the game depending on your skill,” Mohammed Shami slams Hardik Pandya’s decision to demote himself in batting order against GT

As pressure mounted on MI batters, Pandya decided not to promote himself in the batting order, walking out to bat at No. 7.

“You should stay in the game depending on your skill,” Mohammed Shami slams Hardik Pandya’s decision to demote himself in batting order against GT

Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya (Images via X)

Mohammed Shami did not like Hardik Pandya‘s decision to send himself down the batting order against Gujarat Titans (GT). Pandya is now leading Mumbai Indians (MI) in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) and played the first match against GT on Sunday (March 24) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

GT posted 168 runs after they were asked to bat first. Rohit Sharma gave a decent start to the run chase but the GT bowlers ran through the batting line-up later on. As pressure mounted on MI batters, Pandya decided not to promote himself in the batting order, walking out to bat at No. 7. Pandya’s former GT teammate Mohammed Shami (who is not playing in this IPL due to injury) said Pandya shouldn’t have demoted himself in the batting order.

YouTube video
Dhoni is Dhoni. You cannot match someone else. Everyone has a different mindset, whether it is Dhoni or Kohli. You should stay in the game depending on your skill. You batted at No.3 and 4 in the last two seasons. You are used to that position. You can bat at no most, but not at No.7.
Shami told Cricbuzz

Ahmedabad crowd calls Hardik Pandya ‘chhapri’ in his face

The fans, those of Mumbai Indians, it seems, just cannot accept Hardik Pandya as their captain. Even those of the GT have not yet forgiven him for leaving the side.

Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya (Image via X)

Their anger was visible when Pandya walked out to lead MI at the Narendra Modi Stadium. When he came for the toss, Ahmedabad crowd greeted him with boos. Then throughout the match, chants of ‘Rohit, Rohit’ reverberated in the stadium.

A day after that match, videos surfaced on social media in which fans shouted “Chhapri” in his face. Another fan called out Pandya in a video uploaded by ANI, which has now gone viral.

Check those videos here:

Even former England captain Kevin Pietersen on air expressed his surprise after hearing the boos. He also questioned why Pandya was bowling the first over and not Jasprit Bumrah. Former India player Irfan Pathan seemed to have taken a sly dig at Pandya for sending Tim David ahead of him to face Rashid Khan.

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