IPL 2024: Hardik Pandya Given Mumbai Indians Captaincy Due to Rohit Sharma’s Failures, Says Robin Uthappa

Former Indian wicket-keeper batter Robin Uthappa reveals that the Mumbai Indians franchise decided to hand over the captaincy to Hardik Pandya before IPL 2024, taking it from Rohit Sharma due to his poor performances in the last three seasons.

Uthappa also cited the example of Ricky Ponting, whose captaincy of Mumbai Indians was taken from him and given to Rohit Sharma in 2013, which was welcomed by fans. The former CSK player believes that fans should also welcome this move and not direct hate towards Hardik Pandya.

“When captaincy was given to Rohit Sharma, it was taken from Ricky Ponting in the middle of the season. This is the same franchise. All the senior guys, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, and Ricky Ponting, supported Rohit,” Uthappa said on the TRS podcast.

Uthappa further stated that Rohit Sharma has struggled with the bat in the last three or four years and hasn’t won the title since IPL 2020, leading to the decision to hand over the captaincy to Hardik Pandya.

“In the last four years, statistically… I’m never gonna question the caliber and the glory of Rohit Sharma as a batter. But look at it from a franchise perspective. They won in 2020. They didn’t win in the last three years. And in the last three years, Rohit scored less than 300 runs (only once). So there’s a lack of success as a batter, a lack of success as a captain. In just the IPL, because everywhere else, he has scored runs,” he said.

However, this decision has not sat well with the fans, who have been venting their frustration on Hardik Pandya ever since he took over the team, booing him wherever he goes.