"Complete Cinema Culture": R Ashwin Blasts Fan Wars While Reacting On Hardik Pandya Getting Booed

Hardik Pandya is probably the most talked about Indian cricketer right now. If replacing five-time IPL champion Rohit Sharma at the helm of Mumbai Indians wasn't enough, the poor start to his leadership role at the franchise in IPL 2024 have made things worse for Pandya. Everywhere he goes, even on social media, the hate surrounding Pandya is there for all to see. For India's best fast bowling allrounder, Pandya definitely is under pressure, more so from the outside. Hardik Pandya's Indian cricket teammate R Ashwin has spoken on the issue.

"Hardik Pandya getting booed is really bad! Should MI management step in and owe an explanation to the fans? It's really management's poor transfer. What do you say?" A fan names Santhoshkumar M asked Ashwin.

On YouTube, He replied in Tamil: "Neither has any role to play. I think it is the responsibility and onus of the fans. In the comments section you see talks about Virat Kohli , MS Dhoni. They are Indian cricket team legends. It is very sad. This is cricket. It is a complete cinema culture. I know there is also positioning, branding, marketing. But fan wars, ugly.

"if you don't like a player and boo a player, why should a team come out to issue a clarification? We act like this has not happened before. Sachin played under Ganguly's captaincy, these two have both played under Rahul Dravid. These three have played under Kumble and all of them have played under Dhoni. When they were under MS, these players were cricket giants. We need to get our act together. This is real time sport."

Australian star batter Steve Smith has advised Hardik Pandya to simply "block out" the constant jeers and boos the new Mumbai Indians skipper is receiving from spectators at the IPL so far, as they are