Mumbai, April 2 – As the Mumbai Indians face a backlash from their fans after demoting Rohit Sharma and handing the captaincy to Hardik Pandya for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu said the fans must be thinking ‘what wrong has Rohit done’?
Wading into the controversy after Mumbai Indians’ new skipper Hardik Pandya was booed and heckled by the fans in all three matches they have played so far, including the home clash with Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
Speaking exclusively on the ‘Star Sports Press Room’, Navjot Sidhu explains the uproar from the Mumbai Indians fans towards captain Hardik Pandya.
“Nobody can digest the fact that India’s hero, India’s captain, is not the captain of our franchise. ‘What wrong has he done?’ is what fans of the franchise would be thinking. But what does he have to do? There is nothing that succeeds like success. If he (Hardik) had won these two matches, there wouldn’t have been any noise,” said Sidhu.
Sidhu said it was all related to the timing of the announcement of India’s skipper for the T20 World Cup. “If the BCCI had named Rohit as captain for the T20 World Cup in October, the franchise wouldn’t have chosen Hardik as captain. It’s a matter of the franchise’s respect. So, the actual issue here is timing,” said Sidhu.
Mumbai Indians have explained the captaincy change as a move for the future. Rohit Sharma is aged 36 and has led Mumbai Indians to five title triumphs in IPL. Hardik Pandya is 30 years old and led Gujarat Titans to the title in 2022 and a runner-up finish in the 2023 edition. He made his IPL debut with Mumbai Indians in 2015 and has also won the IPL title five times — in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020 with Mumbai Indians and in 2022 with Gujarat Titans.