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Hardik Pandya is in the Charge Now
The Mumbai Indians have named Hardik Pandya as their captain for the IPL 2024 season, succeeding Rohit Sharma.
In a historic move, the Mumbai Indians have named the returning Hardik Pandya as their captain for the IPL 2024 season, succeeding Rohit Sharma after a 10-year reign.
Hardik, who led Gujarat Titans to the IPL title in 2022, was traded back to MI last month after two years and is set to take on a new role, succeeding the joint-most successful captain in IPL history. Rohit, along with MS Dhoni, has won the title the most times for his franchise – five times – but where Sharma stands out is that he did so in ten seasons as opposed to MSD’s twelve.
“It is part of establishing a legacy and adhering to the MI philosophy of being future-ready.” The Mumbai Indians have always had exceptional leadership, from Sachin to Harbhajan and Ricky to Rohit, who have all contributed to the team’s immediate success while also looking to the future.
“Hardik Pandya will captain the Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2024 season in keeping with this philosophy,” Mahela Jayawardene said.
The announcement by the former Sri Lanka captain puts an end to all speculation about Hardik’s role at the franchise. Hardik was expected to play a bigger role after leading GT to the IPL title last year and then to a runner-up finish in IPL 2023.
However, the question of how much larger has yet to be answered. Hardik has already taken over as India’s T20I captain, albeit unofficially, and will now usher MI into a new era, hoping for bigger and better things. MI won five titles between 2013 and 2020 under Rohit, but with disappointing results in 2022 and 2023, it appears a change of guard was on the way.
Hardik Panday’s Return and Rohit’s contributions
Rohit took over as MI captain from Ricky Ponting midway through the 2013 IPL season and led the team to their first title, defeating the Chennai Super Kings in the final. Rohit is the IPL’s fourth-highest run scorer with 6211 runs, 3986 of which have come as captain, across 157 innings at 129.37 SR with 25 fifties. Rohit’s total is the third-highest among IPL captains, trailing only Kohli’s 4994 runs and Dhoni’s 4660.
Hardik began his IPL career with the Mumbai Indians in 2015 and has scored 1476 runs and taken 42 wickets for the franchise. Pandya was signed as an uncapped player for INR 10 lakh and quickly became an integral part of the team, playing in MI’s title-winning teams in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020.
