Former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu has weighed in on the recent captaincy change in the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise, where Rohit Sharma has been replaced by Hardik Pandya ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season.
Sidhu believes that the change in captaincy does not diminish the stature of Rohit Sharma or MS Dhoni, who has also passed on the captaincy baton in the past. He emphasized that great players remain great regardless of their position in a team.
“I have played in an Indian team where five captains used to play together. There were no issues because they were playing for their nation. The motivation was to play for your country. So, playing under Hardik does not make Rohit smaller,” Sidhu said.
He further stated that franchise teams make decisions based on performance, and the change in captaincy at MI was a result of the team’s struggles in recent seasons.
“But this is a franchise and they look at the performances. They gave it three years and when it did not work, they got a new person for the job. You need to accept it. But Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni are great players. A dwarf is a dwarf even if he is standing at the top of a mountain and a God is a God even if they are standing at the bottom of a well,” Sidhu added.
Meanwhile, MI’s batting coach Kieron Pollard has defended the team’s decision to open the bowling with Hardik Pandya instead of Jasprit Bumrah in their IPL opener against Gujarat Titans. He explained that it was a collective decision based on Pandya’s recent success with the new ball for Gujarat Titans.
“You have to plan and decide what you want to do as a team. Hardik (Pandya) has also bowled with the new ball for Gujarat over the last couple of years. He swung the new ball and bowled it well, which was nothing new to us,” Pollard said.
Despite the change in captaincy and bowling strategy, MI lost their opening match of the IPL 2024 season by six runs to Gujarat Titans.
