IPL 2024: Hardik Pandya faces ire of Mumbai Indians fans during defeat at Gujarat 'home'

Hardik Pandya had the worst possible start as captain of Mumbai Indians as his team squandered a straightforward shot at victory against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.

Playing in front of 90,000 spectators at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Pandya and Mumbai had the perfect chance to put recent controversies behind them with a winning start to IPL 2024. And victory looked like a mere formality when Mumbai were 126-3 after 15 overs chasing 169 – with 43 needed from 30 balls and seven wickets in hand.

Young batsmen Dewald Brevis (46) and Tilak Varma were well set but two slower ball bouncers by Mohit Sharma set the cat among the pigeons; the veteran seamer took the wicket of Brevis and then the dangerous Tim David.

Mumbai struggled for boundaries as the Titans pacers dug the ball into the wicket, making full use of the big playing surface.

The penultimate over was bowled by young Aussie quick Spencer Johnson who hit back by taking two wickets in the over despite being hit for a six by Varma.

Captain Pandya, for some reason, had pushed himself down the order to number seven - just ahead of the bowlers. With his team needing 19 from the last over, Pandya raised hopes by smashing Umesh Yadav for a six and a four off the first two balls, before falling to another short delivery as the Titans held their nerve to win by six runs.

Now that's a