Recently, Virat Kohli has been playing in all three of the game's formats under by Rohit Sharma's captaincy.
Digital Desk: Mumbai Indians' captain Hardik Pandya had a difficult start to his leadership. The team's fans, who largely supported Rohit Sharma because of his effective leadership that produced five IPL championships, fiercely opposed his nomination. The dismissal of Rohit as captain was seen by many as insulting.
With the Mumbai Indians losing their opening two games of the season, Hardik Pandya's predicament only became worse. In addition to receiving backlash on social media, Pandya hasn't played well at bat either. Mumbai Indians just let up an IPL record 277/3 against SRH, and Pandya could only muster 24 runs off 20 deliveries, the lowest strike rate in the batting order.
Famous Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who plays for the Rajasthan Royals, offered his support to his teammate Hardik amid the ongoing criticism of him and the Mumbai Indians' lack of reaction to his difficult situation.
In a live webcast with cricket expert Prasanna Agoram on his YouTube channel, Ashwin emphasized the significance of ending the growing fan disagreements, which he characterized as getting worse. The two discussed whether the Mumbai Indians management ought to intervene and issue a statement, particularly in light of the recent controversies involving player transfers.
Neither is necessary in any way. There is absolutely no connection between the athlete and the franchise in this. Ashwin was cited by Sportstar as saying, "I think the onus and the responsibility lies on the fans."
Have you witnessed anything similar occur in another nation? Have you witnessed a brawl between Joe Root and Zak Crawley supporters? Or have you witnessed a fight between Joe Root and Jos Buttler's supporters? That is ridiculous. Have you witnessed Australian brawls between Pat Cummins and Steve Smith fans?"
"I’ve said this many times. This is cricket. This is a cinema culture. I know there are things like marketing, positioning and branding. I don’t deny it. I don’t believe in all this on my side but it’s not wrong to indulge either. Fan wars should never go in this ugly a route. One should remember which country these players represent- our country. So then what warrants a cricketer getting booed?” Ashwin said.
Ashwin provided an example to support his argument, pointing out that Sachin Tendulkar, one of India's greatest cricketers, kept playing under Sourav Ganguly's leadership even after he resigned as captain. Additionally, Rahul Dravid coached both of them during their games. Finally, with MS Dhoni's captaincy, the three got back together on the pitch.
“I don’t understand. If you don’t like a player and boo a player, why should a team come out to issue a clarification? We act like this has not happened before. (Sourav) Ganguly played under Sachin (Tendulkar) and vice versa. These two have both played under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy. These three have played under Anil Kumble and all of them have played under Dhoni. When they were under Dhoni, these players were cricket jambhavans (giants). Dhoni too played under Virat,” he said.
Virat Kohli has been playing in all three of the game's formats recently, captained by Rohit Sharma. He also gave up his position as RCB captain in 2021, and since then, South Africa's Faf du Plessis has been leading the team.
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