Hardik Pandya is facing a battle like no other player has come across in the IPL ever. The 30-year-old got severely booed by the fans of the franchise that he is captaining, Mumbai Indians, at MI's home ground, Wankhede Stadium. So much so that commentator Sanjay Manjrekar had to ask the fans to "behave" and then he ranted about the same on commentary during the MI vs RR match. Not only do the majority of the Mumbai Indians fans not want Hardik Pandya as their captain, but the all-rounder's failure to lead MI to their first victory so far has compounded matters for him. Mumbai is the only team to have not yet won a single match so far. MI have lost all their three games and are sitting at the bottom of the points table. Amid this furore from the fans and MI's three losses, Hardik Pandya got an arm on his shoulder and some motivating words from former MI batsman and IPL legend Ambati Rayudu. Rayudu and Pandya shared the dressing room in MI together from 2015, when Pandya arrived, to 2017, when Rayudu was released and was picked by CSK in the mega-auction. They won two IPL titles together in three seasons. Rayudu, who is doing broadcasting and commentatory work in the IPL 2024, had a brief conversation with Hardik Pandya in Mumbai's dugout after the match against RR at the Wankhede stadium. The franchise uploaded the video of their chat, and captioned it "𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥? 𝐒𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐩"

Watch it here: Ambati Rayudu motivates Hardik Pandya

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥? 𝐒𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐩. 💙#MumbaiMeriJaan #MumbaiIndians | @hardikpandya7 pic.twitter.com/k3YSlofEdV

— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 2, 2024

Before the start of the season, Ambati Rayudu had expressed his opinion regarding the captaincy switch at MI. Rayudu opined that MI should have kept Rohit Sharma as their captain for one more, instead of promoting Hardik Pandya to the leadership role straightaway on his return. “Rohit Sharma should have continued for one more year. Hardik could have played for a year and then assumed the captaincy position in the Mumbai Indians. Rohit is still the T20I captain for India. It will be a difficult season for Hardik as he is coming from the Gujarat Titans set up. It is difficult to captain Mumbai Indians. They have won many titles so the pressure is high. It is not easy to handle all the star players together,” Rayudu had said. Also Read: IPL 2024: Why Did Riyan Parag Get Orange Cap Over Virat Kohli Despite Both Batters Having Same Runs?