Hardik replaces Rohit as Mumbai Indians Captain in IPL 2024 !. The decision to replace Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya for the upcoming Indian Premier League edition was discussed by Mark Boucher, the head coach of the Mumbai Indians. Boucher has explained the choice.
Mumbai Indians Captain in IPL 2024
Mark Boucher quoted on Smash Sports podcast about Rohit Sharma :
I think it was purely a cricketing decision. We saw the window period to get Hardik back as a player. For me it’s a transition phase. A lot of people don’t understand in India, people get quite emotional But you know you take the emotions away from it. I think 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,
I mean one of the things I have spoken about is when you arrive at the IPL and he (Chris Morris) will be able to tell you as well that there’s a lot of stuff going on, there’s photoshoots and this and that and a lot of emphasis is not actually on the cricket. It’s more about the advertising and all that sort of stuff
One thing I 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. 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,
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 as a player. We believe he 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 an maybe we get the best out of Rohit Sharma.
We want to see him playing with a smile on his face, spending a bit of time with his beautiful family.
Boucher also praised Pandya’s leadership, pointing out that he led Gujarat Titans to victory in the Indian Premier League in his first year as captain of the team.
Mark Boucher quoted on Smash Sports podcast about Hardik Pandya :
He is a Mumbai Indians boy. He went to other franchise, won the title in first year, ended up runner-up in his second year. So there’s obviously some very good leadership skills as well.
In 2013, Rohit made his debut as the captain of the Mumbai Indians, and during his ten-year stay with the team, he guided them to five victories in the Indian Premier League. Although Boucher praised the 35-year-old for his leadership abilities, he also noted that the opener has not scored any runs in the most recent few seasons of the Indian Premier League. He reasoned that if he were relieved of the responsibility of captaining the team, it would allow him to play with greater freedom.
The Mumbai Indians have had a difficult time maintaining consistency throughout the course of the previous few Indian Premier League seasons. For the year 2023, he was able to score 332 runs over 16 matches, however in 2022, he only managed to get 268 runs across 14 matches, with an average of less than 20.
