Mumbai Indians' newly-appointed skipper Hardik Pandya joined the camp ahead of the 2024 edition on Monday as he hopes to put on a stellar show in the tournament. In a video uploaded by Mumbai Indians' official social media handles, the Baroda-born all-rounder was seen unleashing some crisp drives during a nets session.
Pandya suffered an ankle injury during the 2023 World Cup game against Bangladesh, ruling him out of the entire tournament, as a result. The seam-bowling all-rounder marked his return during the DY Patil T20 Cup and bowled quite well, picking up figures of 2/22 on comeback.
Pandya replaced Rohit Sharma as the skipper of the franchise, much to the dismay of the fans. The 30-year-old had captained the Gujarat Titans in the preceding two years as they won the title in 2022 and finished as runners-up in 2023. The decision to replace Rohit did not go well with the fans, given he captained the franchise to 5 titles.
"It was purely a cricketing decision" - Mark Boucher on making Hardik Pandya captain
During a recent chat with Smash Sports podcast, Mumbai Indians coach Mark Boucher said it was the transition phase that made them choose Hardik as captain and feels Rohit should flourish as a batter, given he is relieved of captaincy duties. He stated:
"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."
Mumbai Indians will open their campaign against Gujarat Titans on March 24th.
