Sunil Gavaskar sheds light on Hardik Pandya replacing Rohit Sharma as MI’s captain
Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar believes that Mumbai Indians (MI) have named Hardik Pandya as their new skipper ahead of IPL 2024 because of the lack of passion shown by Rohit Sharma in the previous two seasons.
While asked about MI’s shocking move ahead of the next season, Gavaskar stated that Rohit has had below-par performances as a batter and skipper for the Mumbai-based franchise in the past two seasons.
In the 2023 season, the right-handed batter accumulated 332 runs as compared to 268 in the 2022 season. Surprisingly, he has scored only two fifties in the past two editions of the cash-rich league.
“We shouldn’t go into right or wrong but they have taken the decision for their team’s benefit. You can say that Rohit’s contribution with the bat was also slightly less in the last two years. He used to contribute a lot earlier,” Sunil Gavaskar told on Star Sports.
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Will MI bounce back?
Talking about the franchise’s performance as a team, they finished at the last position in the 2022 season. Though they bounced back to qualify in the last season, there were still many missing puzzles.
“Two years ago they finished at the 10th spot. Yes, they qualified for the playoffs last year but the passion that used to be seen in him wasn’t evident in the last two years. Probably he was slightly tired because of playing cricket consistently and captaining as well,” he added.
Mumbai Indians traded Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans (GT) for a reported fee of INR 15 crore. They also got rid of Australia all-rounder Cameron Green and freed up INR 17.5 crore in their purse. It will be interesting to see how the Baroda-based all-rounder carries the legacy of Mumbai Indians.
