Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar has backed the Mumbai Indians’ decision to make Hardik Pandya the captain of the Indian Premier League 2024. Gavaskar mentioned that the decision, which has sparked discussions, might have been made to bring in fresh ideas under a new leader.
Mumbai Indians decided to replace Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as captain for IPL 2024, a move that has received mixed opinions in the cricket community. The team’s former coach and Global Head of Performance, Mahela Jayawardene, explained that the change in captaincy is part of a process to make the team “future-ready.”
A change in leadership was anticipated for Mumbai Indians, especially after they reacquired Hardik Pandya through a significant trade deal in the IPL 2024 auction scheduled for December 19.
For the unversed, Hardik was released by MI before the IPL 2022 mega auction, and he subsequently captained the Gujarat Titans, a new franchise established in 2022. Hardik’s immediate success as an IPL captain, leading Gujarat Titans to victory in 2022 and reaching the final in 2023, likely played a significant role in the decision to alter the team’s leadership.
Sunil Gavaskar Supports MI’s Move Of Replacing “Tired” Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya
Meanwhile, speaking on Star Sports, Sunil Gavaskar expressed his view that Rohit Sharma appeared somewhat fatigued while leading Mumbai Indians in the last two seasons. Gavaskar emphasized that Rohit was also captaining India across all three formats starting from the beginning of 2022. He said:
“We shouldn’t go into rights and wrongs. But, the decision they have taken is for the benefit of the team. In the last two years, Rohit’s contribution, even with the bat, has dipped a little bit. Earlier, he used to score big, but in the last two years they finished No. 9 or No. 10 the year before last year and in the last year they qualified for the playoffs,”
He added: “But we missed seeing the mojo in Rohit Sharma that we used to see in the previous few years. Maybe, he was a little tired because of playing continuous cricket, he was a little tired because of captaincy, leading India and the franchise,”
Gavaskar also backed Pandya to bring a lot of success to Mumbai Indians, considering the way he captained Gujarat Titans in the past two seasons and impressed everyone. He said:
“I feel that the decision, they have kept in mind that Hardik is a young captain who has produced results. Hardik has led Gujarat to the finals twice, and he led them to the title in 2022. I think they have made him captain by considering all this.”
He said: “At times, you need fresh thinking. Hardk brings in that fresh thinking. I think the decision will only benefit Mumbai Indians, it will not deter them,”
