Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher opened up on the decision to replace Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as the captain of the franchise. He expressed that it was “purely a cricketing decision.” He added that it will bring out the best of Rohit Sharma as a player in the upcoming 2024 Indian Premier League season.
The Mumbai Indians in a historic trade, signed Hardik Pandya from the Gujarat Titans in November 2023. Hardik led the Titans in the last two seasons, also powering them to their maiden IPL title. After the trade, Mumbai Indians announced Hardik Pandya as their captain ahead of the upcoming season. Explaining the decision, Mark Boucher said on Smash Sports,
“I think it was purely a cricketing decision. We saw the window period to get Hardik back as a player. For me, it’s a transition phase. A lot of people don’t understand in India, people get quite emotional, but you know you take the emotions away from it. I think it’s just more of a cricketing decision that was made and I do think it is going to bring the best out of Rohit as a person as a player. Just let him go out and enjoy and score some good runs.”
Rohit Sharma has got some great value to add: Mark Boucher
The Mumbai Indians Head coach, Mark Boucher further acknowledged that Rohit Sharma hasn’t had the best of seasons in the last few years in the Indian Premier League. The right-handed batter has an average of around 20 in the last two seasons. Mark Boucher expressed that Rohit will have the opportunity to express himself on the field without captaincy in the upcoming season.
“One thing I did pick up with Ro (Rohit) is that he is a fantastic guy. I mean he’s been captaining for ages and he’s done well for Mumbai Indians. Now he also leads India as well. It is that he walks into a place and there are just cameras in it and he’s so busy and he hasn’t had probably the best couple of seasons of late with the bat but he’s done well as a captain,” Boucher said.
“And I just thought you know when we’re speaking with the whole Mumbai Indians group, we thought that maybe this is the opportunity for him to step in as a player. We believe he got some great value to add and go out there and enjoy it without the hype of being a captain,” he added.
Mark Boucher further said, “He is still going to captain India so that hype’s going to be there but when he steps into the IPL maybe just take that extra bit of pressure off him as a captain and maybe we get the best out of Rohit Sharma. We want to see him playing with a smile, spending a bit of time with his beautiful family.”
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