No Rohit Sharma! A Tactical Decision? Or a Big Blunder by the Mumbai Indians?

Ro “Hitman” Sharma, who won five IPL trophies as a captain for Mumbai Indians in 10 years, was sacked by the Mumbai Indians management, and Hardik Pandya was appointed as the new captain of the franchise for the 2024 season of the cash-rich league. There are reports that Rohit Sharma could leave MI to join another franchise.

Hardik Pandya, MI’s homegrown talent who left for Gujarat Titans in 2022 after seven years under Rohit but was brought back this year in a trade between the two former champions, was named the new skipper, starting with IPL 2024. One must assume it is a seamless transition because such a call couldn’t have been made without Rohit’s knowledge and consent. But then again, why didn’t Rohit announce his decision to step down, like Virat Kohli had done a couple of years back?

Rohit led MI to 5 IPL titles, while teams are struggling to win even one, he is also the most successful captain in IPL history (in terms of match win percentage; min. 10 matches as captain) – Rohit led MI to 68 wins in 116 matches, a win percentage of 60.34%.

The decision has backfired on Mumbai Indians, they have lost an estimated 2 million followers on Social Media Platforms since they announced Hardik Pandya as their new captain. There is no official statement on this topic from Rohit Sharma as of now, which is a huge surprise for all the Rohit & MI fans. There are a few reports which say that a couple of teams approached MI for a Rohit Sharma trade but MI has made it clear that Rohit is going nowhere and they are not going to make any trades. Fans expected the likes of Surya & Bumrah to lead MI once Rohit hung up his captaincy hat but captain Hardik came out of the syllabus.

Will the hate & anger tornado of the MI fans calm down? Will they accept Hardik as their new skipper? Will Rohit stay with MI? Well, only time will tell.

Mumbai Indians have an excellent team for the 2024 season, Hardik will have the royalty of the solid Indian core which consists of Rohit, Ishan, Surya, Tilak, Bumrah, and Piyush along with a solid overseas pool which they have secured in the auction which took place on 19th December.

Will Hardik be able to replicate Rohit’s dressing room environment? Will Hardik be able to handle the star power that Rohit did for more than a decade? Soon, we will get all the answers.