What kind of a leader is Hardik Pandya? This question has been asked a number of times since Mumbai Indians decided to hand Pandya the reigns of the team, removing Rohit Sharma. In the first match of the MI’s IPL 2024 campaign, an incident gave a fitting answer to the above-mentioned question. Hardik Pandya, the Mumbai Indians skipper, gave orders to Rohit Sharma, the five-time IPL title-winning skipper, which raised many eyebrows.
Mumbai lose their way
At Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday, Hardik Pandya’s first game as captain of the Mumbai Indians ended in a bit of a choke, as MI was unable to score 43 runs in the final five overs against Gujarat Titans. MI was the favorite to break their opening match curse in the IPL with seven wickets left and a set Dewald Brevis and Tilak Varma finding their rhythm, but it was not to be. MI collapsed to lose by six runs after losing six wickets for 38 runs.
Hardik instructs Rohit
In his first game back at MI, Hardik had a lot riding on him. He gave MI hope with the bat but was out of form with the ball. Like any captain would, Hardik gave several orders during the match, but one to his predecessor and former MI captain Rohit Sharma caused quite a stir.
Gerald Coetzee bowled the last over of the GT innings, and Hardik asked Rohit to go long on. The former MI captain asked the captain if the instruction was really meant for him after becoming perplexed about who Hardik was pointing at. Once he was certain, Rohit dashed forward and took up position. Still, it wasn’t that. Hardik kept using hand gestures to communicate, it is likely that Hardik wanted him to be a little squarer or at mid-wicket.
