“They finished at No. 9 or No. 10,” Sunil Gavaskar explains MI’s fresh thinking as they hand captaincy duties to young mind Hardik Pandya from “TIRED” Rohit Sharma

The Indian legend is even confident that making Pandya their captain will benefit the five-time champions.

“They finished at No. 9 or No. 10,” Sunil Gavaskar explains MI’s fresh thinking as they hand captaincy duties to young mind Hardik Pandya from “TIRED” Rohit Sharma

Sunil Gavaskar, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya (Images via Hindustan Times, Mint)

India great Sunil Gavaskar reckons Mumbai Indians (MI) wanted to do something new and pointed out how Rohit Sharma’s form dipped a bit in the last couple of years. Gavaskar thinks Rohit got tired of captaining MI and the Indian cricket team, which is why MI handed the responsibility to Hardik Pandya.

Notably, in the last couple of days, there has been a considerable buzz around these two MI players. MI shocked the Indian cricket fraternity by making Pandya their new leader. Pandya got traded to MI from Gujarat Titans (GT), the team that Pandya led to victory in 2022 and to the final in 2023.

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Gavaskar believes Pandya can bring fresh thinking to the team. The Indian legend is even confident that making Pandya their captain will benefit the five-time champions.

In the last two years, Rohit's contribution, even with the bat, has dipped a little bit. Earlier, he used to score big, but in the last two years, they finished at No. 9 or No. 10 the year before last year and, in last year, they qualified for the playoffs.
Gavaskar said on Star Sports

He added:

Maybe he was a little tired because of playing continuous cricket. He was a little tired because of the captaincy, leading India and the franchise.

MI deny trade rumors around Rohit Sharma after captaincy saga

On social media, fans are spreading rumors that Rohit Sharma will be traded to a different franchise, and that there are rift within the team. This started after Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav uploaded cryptic posts on their social media accounts.

rohit sharma hardik pandya
Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma (Images via X)

However, MI strongly denied the rumors. A senior MI official told Cricbuzz on the sidelines of the 2024 IPL auction that Rohit is not going anywhere. The official slammed the fake rumors saying no MI players would be traded to a different franchise.

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