Former India opener Wasim Jaffer expressed surprise over Mumbai Indians’ (MI) decision to name Hardik Pandya as the skipper, replacing five-time title winner Rohit Sharma. HP was involved in a sensational IPL 2024 trade, where he was traded by Gujarat Titans (GT) to MI. MI’s move to replace Rohit Sharma has taken fans and the cricketing fraternity by a storm, given the lack of captaincy experience Pandya has.
Now, it so happens to be that Rohit Sharma will play under Pandya in the IPL. However, Hardik will have to play under the Hitman when it comes to international cricket. Jaffer offered his two cents into the matter and said that it depends on how ‘Rohit thinks’.
‘Hardik will play under him…’
Jaffer said that it may a respite for the Hitman to be relieved of his captaincy duties as it adds enormous pressure on the star. He speculated that Rohit could focus on his batting with his captaincy taken away and can focus on improving from the lean couple of seasons he has had before.
“It will be interesting to see if he (Rohit Sharma) will captain in the T20 World Cup, that is going to be seen. Because, then again he is captain and Hardik will play under him. So, how does that happen?,” Jaffer said.
‘Surprised MI moved so quickly’
Speaking on ESPNCricinfo, Wasim Jaffer pointed out that Hardik Pandya had hardly had any experience as a captain. Barring his stint as the skipper of GT where he also led them to a IPL title win, HP had not even captained his state, Jaffer said. He revealed that he was surprised how quickly MI ‘moved on’ with Rohit Sharma so early and that he was surprised as well.
“I’m surprised that MI has moved from Rohit Sharma so early. It happened so quickly, I’m also a little surprised. When they did the trade, it was probably communicated to Hardik that he was going to become the captain. But whether it was communicated to Rohit, I don’t know,” Jaffer said.
Jaffer further said that there were a couple of other players who had interests in becoming MI’s captain. He claimed that Suryakumar Yadav’s recent run as skipper and Jasprit Bumrah’s experience as a player and skipper put them as frontrunners for the captain position.
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