"It wouldn't have been easy to replace a captain of Rohit Sharma's stature"- Former Indian cricketer on MI appointing Hardik Pandya as skipper
Former Indian cricketer Anjum Chopra has stressed the importance of understanding Mumbai Indians' (MI) perspective behind replacing Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as their new skipper.
MI traded in Hardik from Gujarat Titans ahead of the IPL 2024 auction and the move created a buzz on social media. However, when the ace all-rounder was announced as the franchise's new captain, the decision was met with severe scrutiny.
Speaking to TOI, Chopra tried to dissect MI's thought process behind appointing Hardik as Rohit's successor ahead of IPL 2024.
"A player's job is to play the game. You always walk into a team as a player. You never walk into a team as a captain. How we are seeing from the outside, how the franchise is looking at it from the inside, and now players are looking at it, they have their reasons. It wouldn't have been easy to replace a player and captain of Rohit Sharma's stature. But someday that will happen," she said.
In a recent interview with Smash Sports, MI head coach Mark Boucher tried to explain the rationale behind Hardik Pandya replacing Rohit Sharma as captain. However, Rohit's wife Ritika commented on the Instagram video suggesting how wrong the explanation was and that added even more fuel to the fire.
Anjum Chopra on the time when Rohit Sharma received MI captaincy
Anjum Chopra also shed light on the time Rohit Sharma was first handed MI's captaincy way back in IPL 2013 when the franchise still had some absolute stalwarts like Ricky Ponting, Harbhajan Singh, and Sachin Tendulkar in their ranks.
She feels it is important to look at the future of MI and make a tough decision if needed.
"When Rohit was given captaincy for Mumbai Indians, it wouldn't have been a very easy decision. At that time many stalwarts and experienced players were playing and Rohit was given the captaincy. MI gave him the captaincy because of his ability and Rohit went on to guide MI to five title wins. Let's not run into emotions. It's about balancing things considering the present and future of the team," Chopra stated.
Only time will tell whether Mumbai Indians handing Hardik Pandya the captaincy might create a rift in the dressing room and whether it would reflect in their on-field performances.
MI will start their IPL 2024 campaign against Hardik's former side, the Gujarat Titans, in Ahmedabad on March 24.