Sunil Gavaskar had an honest take on Hardik Pandya replacing Rohit Sharma as Mumbai Indians captain for IPL 2024.
During a show on Star Sports, the former India captain said, "Look, they have always thought about the future of the franchise. Rohit Sharma is already 36 years old and also faces immense pressure, being the captain of India for all three formats. They have tried to reduce some of that burden and give that responsibility on the young shoulders of Hardik Pandya,"
"Handing Hardik, the captaincy is only going to benefit the Mumbai Indians. They have now given the freedom to Rohit to go and express himself freely at the top of the order. Hardik can then come at No.3 or No.5 and help them post totals of 200-plus consistently," Gavaskar added.
Earlier, MI coach Mark Boucher had explained the thought process that led to making this tough call.
"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," Mark Boucher said on Smash Sports podcast.