Mumbai, July 5: Cricket is a strange game. A team sports, where team comes first. When the team wins, then from the skipper, players, coach, support staff, selectors, management to everyone associated with the victory, are applauded, rewarded and treated as heroes. But when the team fails, it is just the vice versa.
In the last few months, Team India all-rounder Hardik Pandya would have felt the harsh difference between defeat and victory, more than any other player in the Indian team, which lifted the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 recently.
As the new skipper of Mumbai Indians (MI) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Hardik was booed, targeted and even trolled on social media for replacing the Mumbai franchisee's former captain Rohit Sharma.
Was he solely responsible for Mumbai India's poor performance in IPL 2024, or replacing Rohit as the MI captain, are different aspects. Let's not discuss that again. But Hardik was at the centre of frustration and anger, there is no doubt about that.
Months after, Hardik - the cricketer, the most trusted all-rounder of Team India captain Rohit Sharma, proved his mettle as a match-winner again. He played some vital knocks, broke partnerships at crucial moments as a bowler, and fielded well too.
In the tense final against South Africa on June 29, 2024, Hardik removed dangerous Heinrich Klassen, who was threatening to take the game away from India and bowled a superb final over.
Not to mention, Hardik became a hero again and the Indians applauded him. The same fans, who trolled him during the IPL, a few months back, also had a complete opposite view.
That's cricket. At times, too harsh for a player. In recent months, Hardik has gone through a difficult phase at his personal life too. But he fought back valiantly on the cricket field and won the fans' appreciations and respect again.
After reaching Mumbai and being honoured by fans and cricket association officials on Thursday, Hardik was ecstatic. He dedicated India's 2024 T20 World Cup title win to 140 crore Indians.
Hardik, the all-rounder from Gujarat on Thursday put out a special video of him celebrating on the roof of the open-top bus, with a sea of cricket-loving fans cheering him, as it crawled through the Marine Drive in Mumbai.
The video was taken during the victory parade organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to celebrate the Indian team's sensational triumph against South Africa in the final of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 at Bridgetown, Barbados last week.
Hardik stated in the video with an emotional message stating, "All 1.4 billion of us" are champions.
In his post on X (formerly Twitter), Hardik further wrote, "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."
