The captaincy era of Rohit Sharma at Mumbai Indians has now come to an end with Hardik Pandya being announced as their new captain ahead of the IPL 2024 auction.
Hardik Pandya was traded in from the Gujarat Titans back to the Mumbai Indians last month. While Rohit Sharma has been retained, he’s 36 years old and MI wants to instantly start their new era under Hardik Pandya.
Speaking on the this decision, Mumbai Indinas’ Global Head of Performance, Mahela 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.”
Mumbai Indians won all their 5 trophies under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy. He first became MI’s captain in the 2013 IPL season midway when Ricky Ponting stepped down mid-season after a poor start. Rohit propelled MI from a bottom-table team that season to Mumbai’s maiden IPL trophy.
He delivered four more IPL titles in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020, MI becoming the second team in IPL, after CSK, to successfully defend their title. Mumbai Indians was the first team to win 5 IPL trophies, which CSK equaled in IPL 2023.
The fans of Rohit Sharma are very angry with the Mumbai Indians management.
Fans of Rohit Sharma slammed Mumbai Indians; trend #ShamionMI on Twitter:
Jayawardene added: “We express our gratitude to Rohit Sharma for his exceptional leadership; his tenure as the captain of the Mumbai Indians since 2013 has been nothing short of extraordinary. His leadership has not only brought unparalleled success to the team but has also solidified his place as one of the finest captains in the history of the IPL.”
