Mumbai Indians, one of the most successful teams of IPL has found themselves in the cross-currents of some serious controversy. What is it all about? The answer is simple. Captaincy problem and this involves two of the biggest names in Indian cricket and somehow the fire is spilling out in the open. Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya.
What do we know so far? Actually quite a lot and it is extremely unsettling for someone as good as Rohit Sharma who is not just a blessing to Indian cricket but the pennant-bearer of excellence at Mumbai Indians. Ever since his arrival to the franchise, it all changed for the Hitman and he has been one of the most successful captains of the tournament, gifting five IPL trophies to the franchise.
Back in December, Mumbai Indians announced that they have landed Hardik Pandya as a part of a trade while they allowed Cameron Green to leave for RCB. Now this decision initially was met with applause as the arrival of Pandya back home meant that things are going to be different and MI had a solid middle-order which would come in the wake of their classy top-order.
However, the entire dream came to a sudden standstill when the franchise opted to hand over the captaincy to Hardik Pandya and this irked the fans straightaway. They were in denial and made it very clear that this decision will not be going down well amongst them.
Whatever acceptance may have come along the way, that fizzled away in the last two days as Mark Boucher made a comment which will irk any Rohit fan and guess what? The biggest Rohit Sharma fan out there, Ritika Sajdeh, his wife, left a comment in the second that would leave Boucher with a very bad taste in their mouth.
Talking to the Smash Sports Podcast, Boucher said, “One thing I did pick up with Ro (Rohit) is that he is a fantastic guy. I mean he’s been captaining for ages and he’s done really well for Mumbai Indians and for India as well. He walks into a place and there’s just cameras in it and he’s so busy and he hasn’t had probably the best couple of seasons of late with the bat but he’s done well as a captain.”
He further added, “And I just thought you know when we’re speaking with the whole Mumbai Indians group, we thought that maybe this is the opportunity for him to step in for his last year or so. We believe he’s got some great value to add and just go out there and actually enjoy it without the hype of being a captain. He is still going to captain India so that hype’s gonna be there but when he steps into the IPL maybe just taking that extra bit of pressure off him as a captain and maybe we get the best out of Rohit Sharma.”
The former South African keeper concluded by saying, “We want to see him playing with a smile on his face, spending a bit of time with his beautiful family. I think there’s no easy way to do it.”
Ritika took to the comments section of the podcast and stated, “There are just so many things wrong with this” and the fans instantly echoed her sentiment raining down hellfire upon Boucher. That is all we know until now. Time shall reveal what else is in store.
