New Delhi
A day after Mumbai Indians appointed Hardik Pandya as their captain ahead of 2024 IPL season, former India opener Wasim Jaffer said he was surprised that five-time champions have quickly moved on from Rohit Sharma as their skipper. On Friday, the franchise announced that Hardik would be the new skipper of the team, ending Rohit’s ten-year reign as the captain, who assumed the role mid-way from the 2013 IPL season. Rohit had led Mumbai to five IPL titles – in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. He did lead Gujarat well. There were a lot of question marks over his performances as he was back after a long layoff, and how he would captain a new franchise, how he would bat at number four – he answered all those questions in the first season (2022). Even in the second season, he did well. But I’m surprised that MI has moved on from Rohit Sharma so early. It happened so quickly, I’m also a little surprised. When they did the trade, it was probably communicated to Hardik that he is going to come in as the captain. But whether it was communicated to Rohit, I don’t know, said Jaffer in a video chat with ESPNCricinfo. Hardik led Gujarat to the IPL title in 2022 in their debut season, and was the Player of the Match in the final against Rajasthan Royals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. In 2023, Gujarat made the IPL final for the second time in as many seasons under Hardik’s captaincy, where they finished runners up to Chennai Super Kings. There were a couple of guys who were pretty hopeful of becoming the (MI) captain. One of them is Suryakumar Yadav, who is captaining the Indian (T20I) team.
