Ritika Sajdeh, Rohit Sharma’s wife, said cryptically on an Instagram post that there were “so many things wrong” with head coach Mark Boucher’s explanation of why the Mumbai Indians (MI) chose Hardik Pandya as captain for the IPL 2024.
Speaking on the Smash Sports podcast, a snippet of which was published on Monday, Boucher revealed that the decision was made to relieve Rohit Sharma of the leadership duty so that he could enjoy his batting in the coming seasons.
“So many things wrong with this,” Ritika commented under the post.
Ritika Sajdeh
In the podcast, Boucher had said:
“I think it was purely a cricketing decision. We saw the window period to get Hardik back as a player. For me, it’s a transition phase. A lot of people don’t understand in India, people get quite emotional But you know you take the emotions away from it.”
“I think it’s just more of a cricketing decision that was made and I do think it is going to bring the best out of Rohit as a person as a player. Just let him go out and enjoy and score some good runs.”
Mark Boucher
Mark Boucher Added:
“One thing I did pick up with Ro (Rohit) is that he is a fantastic guy. I mean he’s been captaining for ages and he’s done really well for Mumbai Indians. Now he also leads India as well. It is that he walks into a place and there’s just cameras in it and he’s so busy and he hasn’t had probably the best couple of seasons of late with the bat but he’s done well as a captain.”
Mark Boucher
Despite being the most successful captain in IPL history with five titles, Rohit has not posted a 30-plus average or a 135-plus strike rate in a season since 2016.
“He is a Mumbai Indians boy” – Mark Boucher on Hardik Pandya replacing Rohit Sharma rewrite heading
During the same interview, Mark Boucher lauded Hardik Pandya’s leadership abilities, saying:
“He is a Mumbai Indians boy. He went to other franchise, won the title in first year, ended up runner-up in his second year. So there’s obviously some very good leadership skills as well.”
Mark Boucher
The IPL 2024 will reportedly begin on March 23.