[Watch] ‘Rohit Sharma And Hardik Pandya Are Good Friends’: Malinga Delivers Message Of Peace In MI Camp

Mumbai Indians fast bowling coach Lasith Malinga says former MI captain Rohit Sharma and the new MI skipper Hardik Pandya are “good friends”. The Sri Lankan legend believes with both Sharma and Pandya in the side, MI have a great chance to lift the IPL trophy again.

Amid the rumours of unrest and strife in the Mumbai Indians camp – following the appointment of Hardik as the new skipper, replacing five-time IPL winning captain Rohit Sharma – this message from Malinga comes as a positive sign for the five-time champions who are looking stronger now with the addition of Pandya and the return of Jasprit Bumrah, who missed the last season due to back injury.

Rohit Sharma’s wife Ritika Sajdeh’s Instagram activities had sparked a furore on social media, wherein she hinted at her upsetness about Rohit being replaced as the skipper ahead of the auction.

Speaking ahead of the IPL 2024 in an interview on the sidelines of a camp for kids, Lasith Malinga lavished praise on Hardik, who led Gujarat Titans superbly in the last two seasons, winning one IPL trophy and finishing runner-up last year.

Malinga said Rohit and Hardik are good friends and the all-rounder also shares a good bond with fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, who is a senior statesman now and holds a leadership position in the Indian team.

Malinga said: “Rohit and Hardik are good friends. He went to GT and won the IPL, then finished runner-up. So, he has good experience and he has a good bond with boom (Bumrah), Rohit. We have a good unit.”

Watch:

He said –
”Rohit and hardik are good friends” He want to gt and won the wc aaa ipl then runerup then he came to mi so he have good experience and he have good bonding with boom, rohit and polly that we have good thing to mumbai and we have a good unit .
😭😭🤡 pic.twitter.com/KavwZ5SAr5

— 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐇𝐈𝐓 𝕏 (@RohitSuperhit) March 14, 2024

We want to let Rohit Sharma go out there and enjoy and score some good runs: Mark Boucher

Earlier, MI head coach Mark Boucher had spoken on his change in captaincy that ended a decade-long stint of Rohit Sharma as their captain. Boucher made tacit comments about Sharma not being in the best of form with the bat in the IPL in recent years, which is true, and that with the captaincy burden released, he could bat with more freedom.

Boucher said, “It’s just more of a cricketing decision that was made and I do think it is going to bring the best out of Rohit as a person as a player. Just let him go out and enjoy and score some good runs. He’s been captaining for ages and he’s done really well for Mumbai Indians. Now he also leads India as well. It is that 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.”

Also Read: Watch: Ishan Kishan Hilariously Copies Malinga’s Action; See Sri Lankan Legend’s Reaction