New Delhi. One of the most successful teams in the Indian Premier League, Mumbai Indians are going to be the most talked about team in the new season. The reason for this is the announcement of fielding a new captain ahead of the 2024 edition. The team management took a difficult decision to replace Rohit Sharma, who had been at the helm of the team for a decade, with all-rounder Hardik Pandya. Captaining a 5-time champion team is not easy for this veteran player. Mumbai have acquired Hardik via trade from Gujarat Titans.
The Mumbai Indians team is the team that has won the most titles in the Indian Premier League. Currently, even though it is joint number one with Chennai Super Kings, this team managed to win the trophy 5 times. The Mumbai team has achieved all these titles under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma. In 2023, it was decided to remove Ricky Ponting and make Rohit the captain. Now after a big gap of 10 years, the team has again changed its captain.
Tough road for Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya journeyed from debuting as an uncapped player to captaining the Mumbai team in the Indian Premier League. It is a dream for any player to take charge of the team for which he made his debut. Last 2 out of 3 seasons were very bad for Mumbai team. In 2021, the team finished in 5th place while in 2022, it finished at the bottom in 10th place. Last season, the team had to be eliminated after losing in the qualifiers. Hardik Pandya’s combination has to be decided and then taken forward.
Dhoni and Kapil faced trouble
In the year 1983, India won the ICC ODI World Cup title. The team was captained by youngster Kapil Dev and faced difficulties. It became difficult for him to keep up with a veteran player like Sunil Gavaskar, who was Kapil Dev’s senior at that time.
When Mahendra Singh Dhoni took charge of the team in the year 2007, seniors like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid were part of the team. Hardik Pandya is accompanied by senior players like Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar. As a captain he has to ask his seniors to make changes as per the times. It will be important to see how he does this in such a situation.
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Tags: Hardik Pandya, IPL 2024, Jasprit Bumrah, Mumbai Indians, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav
First published: December 22, 2023, 21:00 IST