In a major leadership change, Mumbai Indians have named Hardik Pandya as the new captain of the franchise, replacing Rohit Sharma.
Sharma had been the Indian Premier League's joint most successful captain, having led the franchise to five titles.
'It is part of legacy building and staying true to the MI philosophy of being future-ready. Mumbai Indians have always been blessed with exceptional leadership right from Sachin to Harbhajan and Ricky to Rohit, who while contributing to the immediate success have always had an eye on strengthening the team for the future. It is in keeping with this philosophy that Hardik Pandya will assume captaincy of Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2024 season,' said Mahela Jayawardene, Mumbai Indians' Global Head of Performance
Image: BCCI
Hardik Pandya journey with Mumbai Indians started in 2015, following which he earned an India call-up in 2016. The all-rounder won four titles as part of the Mumbai Indians' franchise (2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020) but moved to Gujarat Titans in 2021 after being released by Mumbai. Two new teams were added to the league that year and Pandya was named captain of Gujarat Titans, who he led to the title in their debut season. The team finished runner-up behind Chennai Super Kings in 2023.
During the IPL 2024 retentions window, Pandya returned to Mumbai Indians, following a deal of an undisclosed amount between Gujarat and Mumbai.
This also marks the end of an era – of Rohit’s ten-year reign of captaining Mumbai and leading them to five IPL titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. He took over the role from Ricky Ponting midway through the 2013 IPL season and earned widespread praise for making bowling and fielding placement changes quickly, with an emphasis on being tactically sharp and firmly controlling the proceedings of the game.
Overall, Rohit captained in 158 IPL matches, winning 87 games, losing 67 matches and four fixtures ending in a tie, with his win percentage standing at 55.06.
(With inputs from IANS)
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