Former Indian cricket player Anjum Chopra emphasized the need to comprehend the viewpoint of Mumbai Indians’ (MI) when it came to swapping Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as their new commander.
MI acquired Hardik Pandya from the Gujarat Titans ahead of the IPL 2024 auction, and the decision generated discussion on social media. However, when the ace all-rounder was introduced as the franchise’s new captain, the selection was heavily criticized.
Speaking to TOI, Anjum Chopra attempted to examine MI’s reasoning for naming Hardik as Rohit’s replacement ahead of the 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.”
Anjum Chopra
In a recent interview with Smash Sports, MI head coach Mark Boucher attempted to explain why Hardik Pandya replaced Rohit Sharma as captain. However, Rohit’s wife Ritika commented on the Instagram video, claiming that the explanation was incorrect, adding gasoline to the fire.
Anjum Chopra reminisces the time when Rohit Sharma took over MI’s captaincy
Anjum Chopra also revealed when Rohit Sharma was originally named MI captain in IPL 2013, when the franchise still had some absolute stalwarts like Ricky Ponting, Harbhajan Singh, and Sachin Tendulkar on its roster.
She believes it is critical to consider the future of MI and make difficult decisions if necessary.
“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.”
Anjum Chopra
Only time will tell whether Mumbai Indians giving Hardik Pandya the captaincy would cause a schism in the dressing room and how it will affect their on-field performance.
MI will begin their IPL 2024 campaign against Hardik’s previous team, the Gujarat Titans, on March 24 in Ahmedabad.