Watch: Hardik Pandya was booed by the Ahmedabad crowd toss during his first game as Mumbai Indians captain against Gujarat Titans, the side he led in the last two seasons of the Indian Premier League.

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Hardik created plenty of waves before IPL 2024, switching back to his first IPL franchise Mumbai Indians from Gujarat Titans ahead of the season. He was also named skipper of Mumbai, replacing Rohit Sharma, who held the responsibility since 2013.

The all-rounder, who played for Mumbai from 2015 to 2021, reportedly decided to move to Gujarat before the 2022 season to captain an IPL team. With Mumbai already having a skipper in Rohit, Hardik moved to Gujarat, one of the two new teams introduced in 2022.

Under Hardik, Gujarat Titans played two successive finals and clinched the title in their maiden year. Last year, Gujarat lost to CSK in the final after finishing on top of the league table.

Hardik, however, moved back to Mumbai ahead of the 17th season in an all-cash deal from Gujarat Titans for INR 15 crore. He was also named the skipper of the franchise, replacing Rohit, who led Mumbai to five IPL trophies in nine years. The move has not gone down well with fans in Ahmedabad, who booed their former IPL team skipper after he won the toss and was talking to presenter Ravi Shastri. Mumbai opted to field first.

There were other instances during the first innings as well when Hardik was booed on the field whenever he came onto bowl or fielded, something which did not go unnoticed by Kevin Pietersen. “Hardik has not been that welcome back here in Ahmedabad this evening. Every time he goes near the ball, the boos ring out. I don’t hear that very often in India.”

Incidentally, Ahmedabad is also Hardik’s home ground, with the player belonging to Gujarat in domestic cricket.

Hardik, who took the new ball in the innings, conceded 30 in his three overs as Gujarat, led by Shubman Gill, posted 168-6 on the board.

This was only Gill’s third T20 game as skipper, having last led a team in 2019.

Watch the toss and Hardik being booed here:

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