Mumbai Indians brought back Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans two years after not retaining him. He will lead them in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 after the five-time champions sacked Rohit Sharm, who led them to five titles.
MI were slammed by their fans for taking away captaincy from Rohit Sharma and a couple of their players also posted heartbroken emojis in support of the veteran. However, head coach Mark Boucher is unfazed and unmoved. He said it was a cricketing decision
“I was purely a cricketing decision. We had a chance to bring back Hardik and we capitalized on it. Mumbai Indians are going through a transition phase as far as captaincy is concerned. A lot of fans don’t understand in India and tend to get emotional. You as a team has to take emotions away. It is going to bring the best out of Rohit Sharma as a person and as a player. Let him go out and score good runs for the franchise,” Mark Boucher said on Smash Sports podcast.
Boucher also spoke about the intention of the franchise to make Rohit burden free. He has been ordinary in the last of IPL seasons. He scored 269 runs in 2022 while the right-handed batter accumulated 332 runs in 2023.
“Rohit is a fantastic guy and he has done well for Mumbai Indians. He is leading Team India across formats in international cricket. He hasn’t enjoyed his batting in the last few seasons but his captaincy was good
“We had a discussion about captaincy and decided that this was the best opportunity for him to play as a player. We believe he can still contribute as a batter. He should go out there and enjoy himself without the pressure of being a skipper,” Boucher added.
“He is still going to lead India so that hype and pressure will be there but when he plays in the IPL, we want him to be pressure free and play with a smile on his face. He should be spending more time with his family.”
Boucher lauded Hardik Pandya for his impressive captaincy stint with Gujarat Titans. He led GT to their maiden IPL title in 2022, while the franchise made it to the final in 2023.
“He is a Mumbai Indians boy. He went to Gujarat and won the title in their first year. The team was runner-up in the second year. He is obviously a very good captain,” Boucher concluded.