Rohit Sharma (L) and Hardik Pandya© AFP
Former Indian cricket team fast bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji believes it will take time for Hardik Pandya to carve his own place as skipper of Mumbai Indians after replacing Rohit Sharma ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Hardik ended Rohit’s ten-year tenure as MI skipper after completing a huge trade move from Gujarat Titans. The fanbase as well as some experts are divided over the decision, but Balaji believes Hardik is good enough to take on the new responsibility. However, he also pointed out that if the team starts losing, the new skipper could face big problems.
“It’s been going on for a while, it’s definitely not something you normally see, a lot of friendships are formed, players have gone to different franchises, yes this is one of the cases, but if you’re in a professional field you have to accept that one side is emotional and the other side is something very big, when you come to replace a personality like Rohit Sharma, who is already doing a phenomenal job when it comes to Mumbai Indians. It will definitely take some time, it will settle down.”
“And you have to win your own men, so for Hardik it is very important to win the whole dressing room as a player and as a person. It is certainly true that trust has to be earned and it will take some time to adapt and to accept.” I’m sure he’s good enough and professional enough, and he’ll accept that. He has a young team around him and when they start winning, the emotions will be different. If they start losing, you’re in trouble. So slowly things will turn up. It is better to have a friend who is on a winning front than on a losing front,” he told Star Sports.
Former Indian cricket team all-rounder Irfan Pathan was extremely critical of Hardik Pandya after Mumbai Indians’ loss to Gujarat Titans in their opening match of IPL 2024.
It was Hardik’s first match as MI captain and Pathan believes he made some big mistakes that ultimately cost his side the match.
Hardik opened the bowling for his side and ended up conceding 20 runs in the first over. Pathan felt that he should have gone with an experienced signing like Jasprit Bumrah instead.
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