On Sunday, there was an unfamiliar incident during the match between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians at Ahmedabad. Unfamiliar because it is not usually associated with Indian cricket—booing, though there are exceptions. But it has not been seen in franchise cricket the way it is prevalent, say, in European football.
Some of us may remember that a pig’s head was thrown at Luis Figo after he moved to Real Madrid from Barcelona in the early 2000s. The football world is strewn with such incidents of hooliganism and atavistic rituals. Yet, despite the IPL being 17 years old, there has hardly been any booing or lewd gesture thrown at players by opposing fans.
That’s why it was a surprise when the Ahmedabad crowd booed Hardik Pandya as the Mumbai Indians captain walked in for the toss. Booing is not unheard of in cricket, but it’s rare. It’s simply because fans identify a player with the national team first, before the club. Stars are cheered irrespective of their franchise allegiance. Take this season’s first match, where Virat Kohli was loudly cheered when he was in the Chennai Super Kings den.
However, as the adage goes, there is no smoke without fire. Hardik was the Gujarat captain and, suddenly late last year, moved to Mumbai, where he was declared the captain replacing Rohit Sharma. Touted as the next big thing for a long time, India had been grooming Hardik as a GenNext leader.
Perhaps the fans have not taken to it sportingly enough. Leading the team against his former club, too, had its own peril. Since Rohit is one of the most loved players in Indian cricket and has quite a big fan following, things will not be easy for Hardik. With Jasprit Bumrah, one of the best bowlers in the Mumbai mix, also being overlooked for captain, Hardik will constantly be under the scanner.
Though there is immense support for the teams from Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai or Kolkata, the IPL inter-franchise rivalry is yet to reach the heady heights of the Premier League or La Liga. With more IPL matches sharpening the rivalries, this might just be the beginning of extreme fan reactions. However, as long as fans identify with the national team’s success and its stars, the Hardik incident will always be a rarity.