The change of reigns from Rohit Sharma to Hardik Pandya in Mumbai Indians before Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 has not gone down well with the MI Paltans. Mumbai Indians on Friday announced Hardik Pandya as MI captain for IPL 2024. The removal of IPL’s most successful captain has left the MI fans disappointed. MI’s announcement resulted in a loss of over 400,000 followers on their Twitter account within two hours. However, former South African batter AB De Villiers has found the reaction of MI fans as ‘quite strange’.
Although De Villiers had never donned the Mumbai Indians jersey during his playing days, he follows the happenings around the team quite closely.
‘The reaction was pretty negative‘
Talking about the change of guard of Mumbai Indians in his YouTube channel, De Villiers said, “To be fair to Hardik, he was also a Mumbai boy by for a long time. He was always Mumbai boy from the start of his IPL career. He was with him when they lifted some trophies. I get your point that Surya and Bumrah sort of stayed loyal to the brand when Hardik decided to move on, if you wanna say that. But he’s back.
“And I think I find it quite strange that the reaction was pretty negative. I have been reading posts that said Mumbai Indians social platform lost like 1 million followers and people are upset,” he added.
After leaving Mumbai Indians, Pandya joined the Gujarat Titans, where he performed magnificently. He was named the Player of the Match in the IPL final of 2022, where the Titans beat Rajasthan Royals. In the 2023 edition of the IPL, Pandya took his side to the final against MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings, losing by a whisker.
“You should be happy about him coming back. I know he played two IPL seasons at the Gujarat Titans and won a trophy. They made the final in another. And now he wants to come back as a more experienced player, a more experienced captain. So I think you guys (fans) give him a bit of a boost, welcome him back in the Mumbai Indians camp. I’m pretty sure if he lifts a trophy with the rest of the team, you guys are not gonna have a problem with that,” De Villiers signed off.
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