Hardik Pandya instructs Rohit Sharma to play on boundary rope©
The changing of the guard for Mumbai Indians came to the fore as the franchise took on Gujarat Titans in their opening match of the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Hardik Pandya took over from Rohit Sharma and led the five-time champions against his old franchise for the first time. The match resulted in a six-run defeat for MI as Hardik started his captaincy with a defeat. There were several moments during the game that shed light on the new leadership structure, especially involving Hardik and Rohit.
A video emerged on social media of Hardik instructing Rohit to cross the boundary rope. Hardik’s call left the hitman with a bit of a surprise as the latter was seen confirming with the skipper if it was him he was talking to. Here’s the video:
NO HATE FOR HARDIK, BUT IT HURTS TO WATCH ROHIT LIKE THIS#RohitSharma #HardikPandya pic.twitter.com/9pw8X3IEKG
— Krati Saini (@_kratisaini) March 25, 2024
Rohit, in his new role as a pure batsman, was brilliant with the bat, scoring 43 runs off just 29 balls before being dismissed by R Sai Kishore. Hardik, on the other hand, could only score 11 runs off 4 balls before he was dismissed by Umesh Yadav.
Hardik took the six-run defeat to Gujarat Titans in their IPL opener on the chin on Sunday, saying it was “no problem” as there are 13 matches to go. Pandya was not harsh on his batsman Tilak Varma, who refused to take a single at a crucial juncture when he batted wide of Tim David.
With a target of 169, MI finished at 162/9 in 20 overs after looking on course for victory.
“Obviously we are backing ourselves to chase those 42 runs (in the last five overs), but it was one of those days where we see the score coming down quite a bit in those last five overs. We lost some momentum there,” said Pandya during the match. presentation after the match.
With PTI inputs
Topics mentioned in this article