Hardik Pandya may have found himself on the receiving end of fans’ criticism during this IPL season, but Ishan Kishan is confident that the Mumbai Indians‘ (MI) captain is relishing “the challenge” of winning them over.
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Replacing Rohit Sharma as the regular skipper of Mumbai before the start of this IPL, Pandya has faced consistent boos from spectators. This trend continued on Thursday night as MI took on Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Despite the negativity, Pandya discovered a pocket of supporters at the Wankhede Stadium, especially encouraged by star batsman Virat Kohli, as MI secured a significant victory over RCB.
“He (Pandya) loves challenges, he has been in this situation before and he is in that situation right now. He is not someone who will come out and talk about it and say let’s stop this or that,” Kishan told the media here after MI defeated RCB by seven wickets.
“I know that he must be enjoying it. I know him personally. I have spent a lot of time with him. He is ready for the challenges because you cannot complain to the fans, they will come up with their explanations and their point of views,” Kishan added.

Kishan remarked that the 29-year-old all-rounder has the ability to channel all the negativity into positive performances.
“But knowing how Hardik Pandya thinks, he is happy with people doing it but I know that in the coming games he will do it with the bat and people will start loving him (again),” he said.
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Kishan emphasized how Indian fans have a tendency to acknowledge the dedication and effort of a cricketer, regardless of their personal sentiments towards him.
“People also recognise your hard work, what you are going through and still you are doing so well for your team. I think people do recognise that.”
“Our fans will be a little harsh on you but at the same time when you do well, or when you show that it is (still) not bothering you and (that) you are in a very good headspace, that might change. If not today, tomorrow. If not tomorrow, day after tomorrow,” he said.

Kishan mentioned that Pandya’s primary focus was on enhancing his performances.
“I feel happy about him that even in this situation he is so keen on performing, hitting six on the very first ball knowing that things can go different way and people will question you again. But that is something which Hardik has in himself and other players don’t,” Kishan noted.
Jasprit Bumrah showcased peak performance with figures of 5 for 21 in his spell against RCB, while the rest of the MI bowlers struggled to maintain accuracy. However, Kishan expressed confidence in their abilities to bounce back and perform admirably.

“We will get through that because planning is always there, we keep talking to our coaches, our captain, our video analyst,” he said.
“The wicket was very good (for batters). When the wicket is so good, we cannot complain about our bowlers, who were also good, but (then) we finished the game in the 16th over.
“We have to look at the positives that the bowlers did a great job in restricting RCB below 200,” he added.
(With PTI inputs)