Jasprit Bumrah Breaks Silence On Pandya Getting Booed By MI Fans With 'It Is The Way It Is..' Remark
Bumrah & Hardik- (X.com)
India's star bowler Jasprit Bumrah has opened up on the brutal reception by home fans for Hardik Pandya during IPL 2024.
At the moment, Hardik is being treated like a king in India for his heroics in the T20 World Cup 2024 as seen during the roadshow he held in Baroda after returning to India.
However, things were not the same during IPL, as he was booed by the Mumbai Indians' fans because he replaced their favourite Rohit Sharma as MI captain. It was a tough time for Pandya as the trolling crossed limits.
In the recent events, Bumrah, speaking to Indian Express, revealed that the players were with Pandya and that he and the team do not encourage such behaviour.
“We understand (that) we live in a country where emotion is the talking point. It's an emotion-driven country. We understand that fans do get emotional, and players are also emotional,” stated Bumrah.
"It does affect that you're an India player, and you're playing in India, and your fans are speaking that about you. But it is the way it is. You've got to take it on your chin. How can you go out there and stop people? If you start focussing on yourself, you try to shut that door,” Bumrah added.
Bumrah Takes A Stand For Pandya
Bumrah added that certain things are beyond a player's control but the team is always there to support a player during tough times.
"It's not that simple saying 'just don't focus on it.' They're screaming, and you can hear it, but then, the inner circle helps you. We, as a team, don't encourage that, we don't promote that, we don't think that is warranted.
Now, the world can think what they want to. We as a team were talking to him, if he needed support, his family would always be there. Certain things are beyond your control. If it happens, it happens.”
It was a turn of events for Pandya when he returned to Wankhede Stadium after the T20 WC triumph as the fans welcomed him with loud cheers and 'Hardik-Hardik' chants.