IPL 2020, RR vs MI: Hardik Pandya celebrates his half century in the XIX© Twitter
Although the Mumbai Indians (MI) lost to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in match 45 of the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL), Hardik Pandya became the first player in T20 franchise league history to kneel, showing your support for The Black Lives Matter movement. The SUV managed 60 races with just 21 deliveries, with two fours and seven sixes. After reaching his half century in his team’s 19th inning, he celebrated by kneeling with his right arm raised to show his support for the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement and solidarity against racism.
The 27-year-old took to social networks to share a photo of his celebration. He captioned it as, “#BlackLivesMatter.”
#BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/yzUS1bWh7F
– hardik pandya (@ hardikpandya7) October 25, 2020
The fight against racism and the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement has gained further support after the death of African American George Floyd in May 2020. Floyd died when confronted by police officers, when one of them pressed his knee on that of the victim. neck as shown in videos that went viral. Floyd reportedly died of suffocation from the pressure on his neck. Since then, many sports stars have shown their support for the fight against racism.
During the 2020 IPL meeting in Abu Dhabi, MI lost by eight wickets at Sheikh Zayed Stadium. Despite Pandya’s brilliant half century, Ben Stokes held a batting masterclass to win the match for RR. The Englishman an undefeated 107 runs of 60 deliveries.
Despite the loss, MI is still at the top of the eight-team table. Meanwhile, RR is sixth after having played an extra game.
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