In what has divided the opinion of the people, Mumbai Indians (MI) have announced that the returning Hardik Pandya is set to replace Rohit Sharma as the captain of the team ahead of IPL 2024.
The all-rounder returned to the Blue and Gold of MI for IPL 2024 in a cash-only deal with Gujarat Titans (GT), having spent two seasons with them as captain and guiding them to two consecutive IPL finals, winning the trophy in 2022 in his debut season as skipper.
The announcement was made just four days before the mini-auction (19th December, 2023) and it raised a lot of eyebrows.
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Rohit Sharma's reign as MI captain ends after 10 years
Rohit was bought by MI in 2011, and took over the captaincy role from Sachin Tendulkar midway through the 2013 season, guiding the team to their maiden IPL title in his first-ever season as captain.
His leadership helped MI win four more titles (2015, 2017, 2019, 2020) and become the joint-most successful IPL franchise of all-time.
However, Rohit, who will turn 37, doesn't have many years left in the tank. Appointing Hardik as the captain signals a transition into a new era for MI.
In a statement released on the team's official website, Mahela Jayawardene, the Global Head of Performance of MI, said that the franchise was eternally grateful to Rohit.
It will be interesting to see how the team does under the leadership of Hardik. There will certainly be a lot more pressure on him as the captain of MI than he must have felt while captaining GT. However, fans of MI should not worry because of Hardik's stellar numbers as captain for both GT and India.
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What is Hardik Pandya's record in IPL as captain? Has he ever won the title as a skipper?
Hardik Pandya has won the IPL trophy on five occasions. The 30-year-old lifted the IPL trophy with Mumbai Indians in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020.
He also led his former franchise, Gujarat Titans, to their maiden trophy in their inaugural season in 2022. That was also the first trophy Hardik Pandya won, as a captain.
| Player | Span | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | Draw | NR | W/L | %W | %L |
| Hardik Pandya | 2022-2022 | 31 | 22 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.44 | 70.96 | 29.03 |
Mumbai Indians full squad for IPL 2024
- Rohit Sharma
- Jasprit Bumrah
- Suryakumar Yadav
- Ishan Kishan
- Piyush Chawla
- Arjun Tendulkar
- Tilak Varma
- Vishnu Vinod
- Shams Mulani
- Kumar Kartikeya
- Nehal Wadhera
- Akash Madhwal
- Tim David*
- Dewald Brevis*
- Jason Behrendorff*
- Hardik Pandya (C) (traded from GT)
- Romario Shepherd* (traded from LSG)
- Gerald Coetzee*
- Dilshan Madushanka*
- Shreyas Gopal
- Nuwan Thushara*
- Naman Dhir
- Anshul Kombaj
- Mohammad Nabi*
- Shivalik Sharma
*overseas players
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