Following a day of suspenseful speculation over the question of ‘will he, won’t he’, Gujarat Titans (GT) traded their captain and star all-rounder Hardik Pandya to Mumbai Indians (MI) ahead of the IPL 2024 auction. However, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra said that Pandya being India’s T20 captain and not leading the franchise “doesn’t sit right”.
“The one thing that won’t look good on Hardik’s CV is that he left Mumbai because he wanted to become a captain. You went to Gujarat and then became the Indian captain. You will no longer be a franchise captain now but you still want to be India’s captain – it doesn’t sit right,” Aakash Chopra said in his YouTube show.
“It doesn’t look right whether you look from optics or any other angle, that you are not your franchise’s captain but are India’s captain in the T20 World Cup. It doesn’t sound right but so be it,” he added.
While rumors are swirling that Hardik Pandya might lead the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024, it appears highly unlikely that the all-rounder will take over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma anytime soon.
Pandya, who led the Gujarat Titans to two back-to-back finals, including an IPL trophy in 2022, will return to his former franchise after four years.
The 5-time IPL champions were initially in a financial crunch with only Rs 15.25 crore remaining in their purse after player retentions. However, the franchise traded away Australian all-rounder Cameron Green to RCB for 17.5 crores to facilitate Pandya’s return.
Pandya, who is currently recovering from an ankle injury, is expected to make his comeback in the IPL 2024 season. He has been ruled out of India’s T20 series against Australia and South Africa, and is unlikely to be fit for the home Test series against England in January.
