Mumbai Indians are going through turbulent times after Hardik Pandya was replaced with Rohit Sharma. Hardik is facing the ire of netizens from all corners of the world. Every franchise is bashing the cricketer for his poor capacity. To note, Mumbai Indians have miserly lost the first two matches of IPL 2024. One was with SRH and the other was with GT.
Hardik Pandya was already under fire after getting unending hate from the crowd booing him in the stadium and throwing bottles at him on the screen.
Hardik Pandya's wife Natasa Stankovic faces trolling after Mumbai Indians' poor start in IPL 2024
The trollers also targeted Hardik Pandya's wife actor Natasa Stankovic.
arre bhai.. zyada ho raha hai ab?pic.twitter.com/c9OmmUmkL5
— Keh Ke Peheno (@coolfunnytshirt) March 27, 2024
Nataša Stanković Pandya is a model and actor. She often shares videos and images with her son. She also drops pictures with her husband Hardik.
In her recent posts, social media users have been harassing and abusing her over her husband's performance in IPL. From name-calling to hurling insults to derogatory comments, comment sections of her posts are filled with hate.
Australia's Steve Smith advised Pandya to block people who troll him
Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Australia's Steve Smith had some special advice for Hardik Pandya on how to deal with crowd abuse. Having faced something similar in the past, Smith said, "I'd try and just say, to block it out, it's all irrelevant. No one outside knows what you are going through. No one [from outside] is in that change room."
He added, "Personally, for me, it doesn't bother me. I don't care. I don't pay any attention. You know it's all white noise, but certainly players do hear things and everyone's entitled to their own emotions and how they respond to those. So is it affecting him [Hardik]? Maybe. It's possible. He probably hasn't experienced that before in, in any walk of life. So it's natural, I suppose, and particularly being in India and a star Indian player, to be in that position where some fans are booing you, it's certainly something he wouldn't have experienced."
Hardik Pandya rejoined MI before the auction last year and replaced Rohit Sharma as captain. Hardik was released by the franchise in 2022 and joined GT as captain and they won the match in their debut season, followed by a runners-up finish against CSK in 2023.
