Mumbai Indians‘ new captain Hardik Pandya and the head coach Mark Boucher strangely refused to answer questions on the shift in captaincy at the franchise in their pre-tournament press conference.
The MI skipper and coach attended a press conference on Monday, four days out from the start of the IPL 2024 season.
The biggest talking point among the fans and experts over the past three months has been the change in captaincy at Mumbai Indians. Ahead of the IPL 2024 auction, MI traded in Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans and named him their new skipper, bringing an end to the decade-long captaincy stint of Rohit Sharma, who captained MI to five IPL trophies.
On Monday, journalists three some tough but reasonable questions at Pandya and Boucher and the duo didn’t answer them.
First, a journalist asked about the rumours of Hardik demanding a captaincy clause in his trade deal. At this question, Hardik smiled and looked at the team manager who asked for the journalist to move on to the next question.
Then, Mark Boucher was asked for a particular reason why MI decided to replace Rohit as the captain and appoint Hardik as their new leader. Boucher looked stumped with this question and made some hand gestures about not wanting to answer it.
Watch: Hardik Pandya And Mark Boucher Rudely Refused To Answer Questions On Captaincy
One more question rejected😭@mipaltan getting exposed#RohitSharma pic.twitter.com/EGyq9RaaBd
— Aditya (Modi ka Parivar) (@_adityapandey__) March 18, 2024
One more question rejected😭@mipaltan getting exposed#RohitSharma pic.twitter.com/EGyq9RaaBd
— Aditya (Modi ka Parivar) (@_adityapandey__) March 18, 2024
Hardik Pandya had arrived recently at the MI camp while Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are yet to arrive. Hardik said he hasn’t had a chance to talk much with Rohit.
He said, “Yes and no. Rohit has been travelling non-stop (with the Indian team). I will definitely catch up with him when he joins the squad.”
Another key man, or arguably the most important player in the Mumbai Indians team is Jasprit Bumrah, the fast bowler who missed IPL 2023 due to back injury.
On Bumrah, Hardik said, “Jassi (Jasprit) has been our no. 1 bowler and he has been a champion cricketer. Last year, they did miss him. Excited to have him back full throttle and him guiding the youngsters in the camp,” he added.
Hardik’s first assignment will be against his former team Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on March 23.
Also Read: IPL 2024: Should Hardik Pandya Receive The Luís Figo Treatment From Ahmedabad Crowd?
