Hardik Pandya commenced his tenure as the Mumbai Indians (MI) captain in match 5 of IPL 2024, on Sunday (March 24), when the five-time winners faced Gujarat Titans (GT), his previous franchise, at the Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad. The match had a lot of twists and turns before Shubman Gill, who replaced Hardik as the GT skipper, and his side emerged on top by 6 runs in defence of 168/6. However, throughout the match, all eyes were on Hardik on his Ahmedabad homecoming.

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Hardik, who hails from Baroda, Gujarat, was booed by the Ahmedabad crowd during the toss. After the flick of the coin from Gill, Hardik-led MI opted to bowl first. When he started speaking, to broadcaster Ravi Shastri, he was booed by the crowd relentlessly. 

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Even after the toss, Hardik was given a tough time by the Ahmedabad crowd during MI’s fielding as well. The all-rounder wasn’t retained by the MI camp ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction. He went to the Gujarat camp and led them to the title in their inaugural season in 2022. In the following edition, GT ended as the finalists. 

However, ahead of the IPL 2024 mini auction, Hardik went back to MI in the trade window and was named the captain, replacing Rohit Sharma (which irked many MI loyalists). Since then, he is facing a tough time with both the Mumbai and Ahmedabad fans.

Talking about the match, Gill-led GT posted 168 for 6, riding on Sai Sudharshan’s 45 and vital knocks from the new captain, Rahul Tewatia, Azmatullah Omarzai. In reply, Mumbai managed only 162 for 9 despite them being well-placed at 126 for 3 in 15 overs. 

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