 "Rohit Sharma has been replaced as Mumbai Indians captain by Hardik Pandya. PTI")
Mumbai Indians were heavily criticised for removing Rohit Sharma as captain ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season. The five-time IPL champions acquired Hardik Pandya via a trade deal from Gujarat Titans (GT) and announced him as the captain of the side for the upcoming edition of the IPL. Needless to say, the decision has sparked a huge debate and now World Cup-winning former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has shared his stance on this matter. The ex-India cricketer felt that the Mumbai-based franchise should have retained Rohit as the leader of the side even if they wanted to sign Pandya.
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“Rohit Sharma is a five-time IPL winner as captain. Removing him is a big decision. I would’ve probably got in something, for example Hardik. But I would have given Rohit another season and let Hardik be vice-captain, and see how the whole franchise worked,” Yuvraj said on Star Sports.
“But obviously, I understand from the franchise point of view, that they have to see the future. But again, Rohit is still the Indian captain, and he’s playing really well. So, it’s a big decision. Everybody has a opinion, but franchise has to take the right call for the future. I guess it was in that interest, and I hope they do well,” explained Yuvraj, who was Rohit’s teammate at Mumbai Indians.
The leadership change in Mumbai Indians happened less than a month after the team management decided to bring back Pandya. The star India all-rounder had led Gujarat Titans to the IPL title in their debut campaign in 2022. Gujarat Titans, under the leadership of Pandya, had reached the final last season but they were beaten by MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2023 summit clash.
Impact Shorts
View AllRohit, on the other hand, led Mumbai Indians to five IPL finals and the franchise has lifted the trophy as many times. Overall, he led the team in 163 IPL and Champions League T20 games. Rohit guided Mumbai Indians to 91 wins across all competitions.
Mumbai Indians full squad for IPL 2024: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, N. Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Romario Shepherd, Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma