In a historic move, the Mumbai Indians named Hardik Pandya as captain of the team for the 2024 Indian Premier League. This move has effectively ended the 10-year captaincy reign of Rohit Sharma with the Mumbai Indians.
After two years, Hardik returned to the Mumbai Indians and would now take over as captain. He would be following in the footsteps of the joint-most successful skipper in Indian Premier League history. Hardik Pandya would be expected to win the trophy this season after two disappointing years since his departure.
Mahela Jayawardene, Global Head of Performance for the Mumbai Indians said in a statement about this captaincy change. He said, “It is part of legacy building and staying true to the MI philosophy of being future-ready. Mumbai Indians have always been blessed with exceptional leadership right from Sachin to Harbhajan and Ricky to Rohit, who while contributing to the immediate success have always had an eye on strengthening the team for the future. It is in keeping with this philosophy that Hardik Pandya will assume captaincy of Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2024 season.”
“We express our gratitude to Rohit Sharma” : Mahela Jayawardene
Mahela Jayawardene spoke about the legacy that the Mumbai Indians have. He thanked Rohit Sharma for his exceptional performance for the last 10 years as skipper.
The former Sri Lankan batter said, “We express our gratitude to Rohit Sharma for his exceptional leadership; his tenure as the captain of the Mumbai Indians since 2013 has been nothing short of extraordinary. His leadership has not only brought unparalleled success to the team but has also solidified his place as one of the finest captains in the history of the IPL. Under his guidance, MI became one of the most successful and loved teams ever. We will look forward to his guidance and experience on and off the field to further strengthen MI. We welcome Hardik Pandya as the new captain of MI and wish him all the very best.”
Fans react as Mumbai Indians announce Hardik Pandya as skipper for IPL 2024: –
HARDIK PANDYA WILL LEAD MUMBAI INDIANS IN IPL 2024…!!! pic.twitter.com/lFVgaxhZmM
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) December 15, 2023
Shocker, bet Rohit won’t like it.
— Shubham Sakhuja (@ishubhamsakhuja) December 15, 2023
Hardik will be lead in IPL plastic league, but in international Rohit Sharma will lead save this tweet
— ???? (@bijjuu11) December 15, 2023
Rohit Sharma sacked without even a phone call ????
— akshat (@StanVirat) December 15, 2023
Chapri pandya would be captain of a team in chapri league
— Sharjeel???? (@sharjeeelzz) December 15, 2023
Sacked? pic.twitter.com/r4Yvk4wRnO
— Ayush Garg (@Garg110699) December 15, 2023
Rohit Sharma has basically moved one step closer to T20 retirement for India.
Does not look like he will be playing T20s for India anymore— Shreya (@shreyamatsharma) December 15, 2023
END OF AN ERA pic.twitter.com/IkFDv3h34a
— Sardar Adnan (@Chishmish_hon) December 15, 2023
Did he relinquish or did MI rake this decision?
— Dom (@diligent_three) December 15, 2023
Congratulations Hardik Pandya!!
You have very big responsibility of lead the greatest ever IPL franchise, hopefully you will lead us to five more titles ? pic.twitter.com/qB670wEGaJ
— CricWiz (@CricWizTalks) December 15, 2023
Going to win more trophies than Rohit.
You can come back here.
— ORI_FCB ?? (@Orient1300) December 15, 2023
Vada pav Chokma sacked ?????
— Crickfan (@crickadda07) December 15, 2023