Steve Smith has urged the fans to let go of the past and back Hardik Pandya as the skipper of MI after the all-rounder hasn’t had the best of times since returning to the franchise. Hardik was traded from GT before the season and went on to take over captaincy from Rohit Sharma. However, this move wasn’t welcomed by the fans as it received severe backlash with the MI management being panned on social media.
Hardik would be subjected to boos during the first three matches of the IPL as MI failed to secure any points. The all-rounder was also trolled on social media and Smith said it was unfortunate to see that happen, while talking to PTI.
The Aussie batter went on to say that Hardik is a wonderful player who found a lot of success in GT and the senior stars of MI need to step in and help him out.
‘Yes and no. Obviously, there was that (booing) going on in the first two games. It sort of becomes a bit of a thing, if that makes sense. But, it was unfortunate, I think. I’d love to see them supporting Hardik. Obviously, there’s a lot of huge Rohit fans out there.”
”A lot of people are a bit annoyed that he’s not the captain of the side. But, everyone needs to let go of that and support Hardik. He’s a wonderful player. He had a lot of success at Gujarat (Titans). He’s back (as) captain of the side at Mumbai now.
”The senior players need to help him out,” said Smith.
