Hardik Pandya gets booed again as chants of 'Rohit… Rohit' fill Wankhede Stadium
Mumbai, Apr 1: There was no letup in crowd hostility towards Hardik Pandya with fans booing the Mumbai Indians skipper as he walked out for toss in their IPL match against Rajasthan Royals on Monday, even as chants of 'Rohit… Rohit' reverberated across the Wankhede Stadium.
But, with the bat in his hand, Pandya managed to get the crowd on his side, quickly turning the jeers into cheers with half a dozen boundaries during a 21-ball 34, which lifted his team from 20/4 to 76/5 in the 10th over, when his entertaining knock came to an end.
In fact, the cheers from around the ground were as loud as any when Pandya smashed his first four, a far cry from the evening's hostile reception.
The 29-year-old Pandya, who replaced Rohit as the captain of the Mumbai Indians in the lead-up to the tournament, has already been subjected to crowd's anger over the franchise's decision regarding leadership during the team's previous two away games at Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.
Pandya was booed by a section of the crowd before the toss when he was doing rounds of the field as a warm-up exercise.
The flamboyant all-rounder was then booed again when his named was announced at the time of the toss, to which Pandya only smiled as loud chants in support of the former Mumbai skipper Rohit filled the venue.
The jeers continued as Pandya began speaking after losing the toss to Rajasthan Royals' skipper Sanju Samson, forcing presenter Sanjay Manjrekar to ask the crowd to "behave".
Right at that moment, Rohit, in his training kit, was meeting his former teammate Harbhajan Singh who was at the field as one of the commentators doing the pre-match show.
If the relentless booing was not enough, Pandya again found himself at the receiving end of crowd's displeasure, especially from the Sachin Tendulkar stand when he walked out to bat with his team reeling at 20/4 in the fourth over.
"The day Hardik wins a game for MI by contributing big, he'll walk into the Wankhede to a hero's welcome! Wankhede will soon chant 'Navratri maa Daandiya, Wankhede maa Pandya'," said Nish Navalkar, a member of the 'North Stand Gang' at the iconic venue.
Additionally, as per officials here, the fans were allowed inside the stadium only after their banners were confiscated due to an election commission directive given to the Mumbai police.
However, there was an element of miscommunication as well as misinterpretation since the directive was about not allowing political banners but fans complained on social media about all banners being taken away.
There were, nevertheless, a few fans who were able to carry their banners inside.
Chants for Rohit and Boos for Hardik Wankhede crowd really won pic.twitter.com/VxrxpVNstY
— Monk. (@Itsmonk_45) April 1, 2024
Huge cheer for Rohit Sharma outside the Wankhede stadium. 🔥pic.twitter.com/L9orlUv7NG
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 1, 2024
Sanjay Manjrekar asking Mumbai crowd to behave as Pandya gets booed in Wankhede.
— Harsh Tiwari (@harsht2024) April 1, 2024
Mumbai fans aren't still accepting Pandya as their Captain.#MIvsRR #RohitSharma#HardikPandya pic.twitter.com/Kj6q4h9gLc
Rohit Rohit chants in Wankhede stadium Mumbai.
— Nisha (@NishaRo45_) April 1, 2024
Rohit Sharma is bigger than IPL 🐐 pic.twitter.com/9iw9Ow6xHm
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Egg-donation racket targeting poor women busted in Maharashtra's Thane; 3 held
Thane (PTI): Police have unearthed an egg-donation racket, suspected to be involving crores of rupees, that repeatedly exploited vulnerable women in Maharashtra's Thane district, officials said.
The victims were offered Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per cycle and repeatedly used as egg donors, resulting in physical exploitation. They were taken to IVF centres where the eggs were surgically extracted and sold for lakhs, they said, adding that so far, 20 women are believed to have fallen prey to the racket.
Three women have been arrested in connection with the illegal trade operating out of a residential apartment and a sonography centre at Joveli in Badlapur East, the police officials said on Saturday.
Egg donation is a fertility procedure where a woman provides eggs for another person to conceive, usually via IVF (in vitro fertilisation). The donor undergoes screening and hormone treatment, eggs are retrieved, fertilised, and transferred to the recipient.
The arrested persons have been identified as Sulakshana Gadekar (44), Ashwini Chabukswar (29), and Manjusha Wankhede (46).
Following a tip-off from a victim to Thane Sub-District Hospital's Chief Medical Officer Dr Jyotsna Sawant, a raid was recently conducted at Gadekar’s residence in Nano City building, the police said.
“We recovered photos of injections used in connection with pregnancy, sonography reports, affidavits with false names, fake documents, and evidence of financial transactions on the mobile phones of the accused,” a police official said.
The accused targeted needy women, paying them Rs 25,000 to 30,000 per cycle. The victims were allegedly administered hormonal injections to increase egg production and were repeatedly used as donors, leading to physical exploitation, the official said.
“The process involved injecting the women to stimulate egg production and taking them for sonography. Once the eggs were ready, the victims were sent to IVF centres where the eggs were surgically extracted and sold for lakhs of rupees,” the official added.
Ulhasnagar Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Gore said that more than 20 women might have fallen victim to this racket so far.
“The racket was previously operating in Vangani before shifting to Badlapur recently. We are investigating the involvement of IVF centres, doctors, and hospitals. High-profile names are likely to surface as the turnover of this illegal trade is estimated to be in crores,” Gore said.
A case has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, the police added.
