Mumbai Indians dropped a bomb two days ago by appointing Hardik Pandya as the new captain to replace Rohit Sharma ahead of the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League. Since Rohit has been the most successful captain in the Indian Premier League having led Mumbai to five titles in over 10 editions, the sentiment or public reaction to the decision has not been positive. While there was an expectation that Hardik Pandya would become the captain, he was traded from a franchise where he was the captain and led them to two finals, including a title win in the first season in 2022.
However, former India batsman Sanjay Manrekar urged everyone to refrain from bringing emotions into their judgment keeping in mind that Hardik is a proven captain, and since he has captained India in T20s as well, the decision made sense.
Speaking to Star Sports during the discussions for the first ODI between India and South Africa, Manjrekar said: “One should not think emotionally or sentimentally about Rohit Sharma. I think it is a good move because Hardik Pandya is a proven captain with a lot of experience.” Great start, he is a captain and an in-form T20 player.
“Rohit has been around for a long time. So, it makes a lot of sense to have someone like Hardik,” he said.
Hardik began his IPL career at Mumbai Indians in 2015 and went on to form a formidable middle-order alongside the likes of Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard. However, when MI did not retain Hardik ahead of the 2022 mega auction, Hardik was picked as captain by Gujarat Titans and the new franchise could not have had a better start to their journey in the cash-rich league than they did.
Manjrekar was just hoping Hardik wouldn’t take the pressure of how all this has played out in the last few weeks as he has performed well in leading his team. “I just hope he doesn’t feel the pressure of how the transfer happened and Mumbai Indians support him a lot,” he added.
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