R Ashwin has come out in support of Hardik Pandya, who has faced hostile reception ever since being named captain of Mumbai Indians for the 2024 IPL.

Pandya, who led Gujarat Titans in the last two seasons, moved back to his first IPL team Mumbai ahead of the ongoing season. He was also named the skipper of the franchise, replacing Rohit Sharma, who is currently India’s all-format captain.

The change has not gone well with the fans, who have booed Hardik constantly in the two games he has played this season, in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. He has also been targeted by fans on social media, who have now also started his wife.

Ashwin came to Hardik’s defence, calling the fan wars “ugly” and that he does not understand the hatred fans have for a player who represents India in international cricket.

The off-spinner was asked on his YouTube channel whether Mumbai Indians should issue a clarification about the transfer and the decision, to which Ashwin said, “Neither has any role to play. Neither the franchise not the player has a role to play in this at all. I think the responsibility and the onus lies on the fans.”

Ashwin also questioned the supporters and said that such wars do not happen in other countries. “Have you seen this happen in any other country? Have you seen Joe Root and Zak Crawley fans fight? Or have you seen Joe Root and Jos Buttler fans fight? It’s crazy. Have you seen Steve Smith and Pat Cummins fans fight in Australia?

“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? “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,” he added.

Ashwin also cited the example of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble, saying the legends all played under each other’s captaincy. He added that all five of them later played under MS Dhoni.

“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.

“We need to get our act together. You know what the issue is? We all happily sit inside our houses and look at the trash outside. We expect someone else to pick it up instead of doing it ourselves. We don’t want to bother doing it ourselves. We should correct ourselves first.”

Mumbai will play their first home game of the season on Monday (April 1) against Rajasthan Royals.

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