India all-rounder Hardik Pandya went through an emotional rollercoaster on Thursday, 4 July. The Indian vice-captain, who was booed by Mumbai during the Indian Premier League 2024 season, received a rousing reception from the same crowd having played a crucial role in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 victory in Barbados. After a day filled with meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Water Salute at the Mumbai airport and an open bus parade through Marine Drive, Pandya was in tears when Rohit Sharma’s credited the T20 World Cup win to the all-rounder’s performance.
The India all-rounder tweeted out after the celebrations were done and thanked the city of Mumbai and the fans for showing tremendous support.
“India, you mean the world to me! From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the love.. these are moments that I will never ever forget! Thank you for coming out to celebrate with us, despite the rains! We love you so much! Celebrating with you is why we do what we do! We’re all champions! All 1.4 billion of us! Thank you Mumbai, thank you India,” Pandya wrote on Twitter.
On the day, fans gathered around the Mumbai airport to greet the Indian team. One of the fans, put out a passionate apology to Hardik Pandya for abusing him during the Indian Premier League 2024 season. Standing at the Mumbai airport to greet the Indian team, the fan expressed their apology on live TV for abusing Pandya during the Indian Premier League.
India’s Open-bus Parade: Highlights
Speaking to IndiaToday, the fan said sorry to Hardik Pandya and said that she wished she had never said the horrible things aimed at the MI captain. Pandya was in the middle of the storm in the IPL 2024 season when he took the captaincy over from Rohit Sharma. Under Hardik’s captaincy, MI lost form and finished at the bottom of the points table. Pandya copped a lot of abuse from fans and experts after he failed to replicate his GT form.
“First and foremost, I want to say sorry to Hardik Pandya. 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 said on live TV.
The fan referred to Pandya’s superb rearguard action with the ball in the T20 World Cup 2024 final against South Africa. Pandya had picked Heinrich Klaasen’s wicket in the 17th over of the match, when SA needed less than run-a-ball to win the title. Pandya returned to bowl the final over as well and dismissed David Miller, courtesy of a superb catch from Suryakumar Yadav, which helped India seal the match by 7 runs.
Tune In
