The decision of the Mumbai Indians to make Hardik Pandya their new captain, replacing Rohit Sharma, has not gone down well with many of the Mumbai fans.
With Rohit Sharma, who has led MI to all its 5 IPL titles, leading India to the World Cup 2023 final with his incredible captaincy on the field and leadership off it, and being in great form with the bat, Rohit’s fans think he should have led MI for at least one more season.
However, the MI management and owners have hinted at this decision as their long-term plan to have Hardik Pandya lead them for the next 4-5 years.
It has been reported by multiple sources that Hardik had set the precondition of getting the MI captaincy straightaway before agreeing to the trade of leaving the Gujarat Titans, whom he led to two consecutive IPL finals, winning in 2022 and losing the final in 2023 only on the last ball. Hardik has established his credentials as a captain and is also next in line to take India’s white-ball captaincy from Rohit Sharma.
Watch: Comedian Pranit More does a funny gig trolling Hardik Pandya
Comedian Pranit More, who has over 100k Instagram followers, made a couple of funny jokes at this news of Hardik. More hilariously joked about Pandya being injured frequently, saying that MI’s home ground would be now shifted from the Wankhede stadium to a hospital. His audience, too, seemed to agree with his cheeky digs at Pandya.
Check it out here:
Mumbai Indians = Rohit Sharma
RIP MUMBAI INDIANS pic.twitter.com/bXxUfqf0AO
— Kish (@Kish_tweetz) December 16, 2023
Mahela Jayawardene, the Global Head of Performance of the Mumbai Indians, said that appointing Hardik as their new skipper was a decision they made with the future in mind.
Jayawardene said: “It is part of legacy building and staying true to the MI philosophy of being future-ready. Mumbai Indians have always been blessed with exceptional leadership right from Sachin to Harbhajan and Ricky to Rohit, who while contributing to the immediate success have always had an eye on strengthening the team for the future. It is in keeping with this philosophy that Hardik Pandya will assume captaincy of Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2024 season.”
“We welcome Hardik Pandya as the new captain of MI and wish him all the very best.”
The IPL 2024 auction is slated for December 19.
