Hardik Pandya was used to loud cheers whenever he was at the Narendra Modi Stadium but he had an unexpected homecoming as the Ahmedabad crowd booed the former Gujarat Titans' skipper during their IPL 2024 game vs the Mumbai Indians.
Right from the toss, the fans gave Hardik a tough time in the match, which Mumbai lost by 6 runs in the end.
Hardik was the captain of the Gujarat Titans in the last couple of years and also led them to title win in 2022. GT finished as the runners up last year but Hardik decided to move back to Mumbai ahead of IPL 2024 player auction.
Surprisingly, MI removed Rohit Sharma as their skipper skipper and handed over the captaincy duties to Hardik as soon as the trading window closed.
The much-anticipated return of Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans to the Mumbai Indians didn't start as the new skipper would have liked it to as GT snatching an improbable 6-run victory in a thrilling IPL 2024 match on Sunday.
With that, the Mumbai Indians maintained the tradition of losing their opening match of IPL since 2012.
The match started off on a good good note for Hardik as he won the toss and Mumbai restricted Gujarat to 168/6.