Team India vice-captain Hardik Pandya had a mentally draining couple of months during the Indian Premier League (IPL) earlier this year. The star all-rounder was trolled and booed by fans after he took charge of the Mumbai Indians, replacing Rohit Sharma as captain. MI’s decision to sack Rohit as captain didn’t go down well with the fans. As a result, Hardik was continuously targetted by fans across stadiums. However, Hardik managed to re-earn the respect of the fans by playing an instrumental role in India’s T20 World Cup success.
He defended 16 runs in the final over of the final as India beat South Africa by 7 runs to win the title.
Now, a female fan has apologised to Hardik on live television for trolling the India vice-captain during the IPL.
“First and foremost, I want to say sorry to Hardik Pandya for all the trolling. I don’t know why I trolled him in the first place. I am very sorry. Thank you so much. The last over was amazing. And I want to say sorry. Why did I even say anything wrong about you? I don’t know,” the female fan told India Today during a live interaction.
During Team India’s victory celebrations at the Wankhede Stadium, India captain Rohit praised Hardik for his heroics in the last over.
“Hardik was bowling the final over for us. Hats off to him for bowling that last over. You know, no matter how many runs you need, there is always so much pressure to bowl that over. But hats off to him,” the 37-year-old concluded.
The all-rounder, who made a big contribution in the final with the crucial wickets of Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller, had a good tournament with bat and ball and became the first Indian man to reach No. 1 in the category.
Hardik Pandya made impactful cameos down the order with the bat and made breakthroughs with the ball when the team needed him to. He finished with 144 runs at a batting strike rate of over 150 and also took 11 wickets.
Guessing by Rohit’s remarks, it seems that he and Hardik have set their past differences aside, which eventually helped India end an 11-year wait to lift an ICC title.
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