Since Hardik Pandya has taken over the captaincy of the Mumbai Indians (MI), the skipper is under constant scanner. He is facing a tough IPL phase this year with hostile crowd at stadiums, who keeps booing the MI skipper. Not just this, questions too have been raised on his poor on-field decisions. The all-rounder has cleared that the criticism doesn’t affect him much, but the intensity of the anger against him is looking unstoppable. In addition to this, MI has also not won any of the matches in this season so far.
Now, Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary has now claimed that the captaincy could be handed back to Rohit Sharma.
“It can happen. It’s a big call because whatever little I understand these franchises and owners, they don’t hesitate in taking calls,” Tiwari said on Cricbuzz.
“It’s a clue that Hardik is under pressure. If he is not bowling having bowled in the first 2 games, and in conditions where there was swing on offer in both first and second innings, I think he felt the pressure with the kind of reception he received. I want to say something big. I have this feeling that during this break, Rohit Sharma could be given back the captaincy from Hardik Pandya,”he said as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Speaking on why the franchise and owners hand over the capintacy, Tiwari said that the initiation of this started when they transferred the captaincy from Rohit to Hardik. “It’s pretty big when you change a captain who has won you five titles. And now that they haven’t won a single game and the captaincy also looks jaded. Mistakes are happening,” he added.
If something like this happens, Hardik Pandya won’t be the first. Earlier in 2022, Ravindra Jadeja was appointed CSK captain ahead of the season. However, the team did not perform well and lost six out of its eight matches they played. Jadeja then announced to step down as the captain and Mahendra Singh Dhoni was appointed the captain of CSK again. As per an official statement, Jadeja had decided to resign in order to focus and concentrate more on his game.
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Published: 03 Apr 2024, 10:32 AM IST