After Mumbai Indians suffered a defeat in their last Indian Premier League (IPL) match, former India star Virender Sehwag has made a bold prediction that Rohit Sharma will replace Hardik Pandya as the captain of the team before their next game.
Sehwag, a former opening batsman known for his aggressive style of play, made this prediction during a television show where he was discussing Mumbai Indians’ recent form and leadership issues. He highlighted that Rohit Sharma has vast experience in captaining the team and has led them to multiple IPL titles in the past.
Sehwag’s prediction comes at a time when Mumbai Indians are struggling to find their rhythm in the ongoing IPL season. Despite having a strong squad, the team has failed to deliver consistent performances on the field, leading to questions about their leadership and strategy.
Rohit Sharma, who is currently the vice-captain of the Indian cricket team, has been a key player for Mumbai Indians over the years and is known for his cool and calm demeanor on the field. Under his leadership, the team has achieved great success, and many believe that he would be the ideal choice to take over the captaincy from Hardik Pandya.
While Sehwag’s prediction has sparked discussions among cricket fans and experts, it remains to be seen if the Mumbai Indians management will make a change in leadership before their next game. The team has always been known for backing its players and giving them time to prove themselves, so it will be interesting to see how they respond to Sehwag’s suggestion.
In the meantime, Virender Sehwag took to social media to react to the discussions around his prediction. In his signature style, he posted a tweet in Hindi, stating, “कप्तान की जन्मतिथि बदल सकती है, उसकी क्षमता और नेतृत्व कभी नहीं।” This roughly translates to “The captain’s birth date can change, but not his ability and leadership.”
Sehwag’s words highlight the importance of having a strong and effective leader in a cricket team, and it will be interesting to see how the situation unfolds for the Mumbai Indians in the coming days. As fans eagerly wait for the next game, all eyes will be on the team’s performance and whether any changes in leadership will be made.
Rohit Sharma (L) and Hardik Pandya© AFP
Former Indian cricket team star Manoj Tiwary believes that Mumbai Indians can give the Mumbai Indians captaincy back to Rohit Sharma ahead of the franchise’s next game in IPL 2024. Under new skipper Hardik Pandya‘s leadership, MI have lost three matches in a row and they currently lie at the bottom of the points table. The decision to replace Rohit with Hardik as the MI skipper caused a lot of stir among the fans and experts ahead of the tournament. With MI facing Delhi Capitals next on April 7, Tiwary said that the change in captaincy can happen in the break.
“It can be a clue that he is under pressure. if someone is not bowling after opening the bowling for the past three matches and that too on a pitch where the ball was swinging. There was swing in the first innings and even Mumbai Indians bowlers including (Jasprit) Bumrah produced a lot of swing. Hardik’s ball would have swung as well but the welcome that he got in Mumbai put him under pressure.”
“I want to see something big – I have this feeling somewhere that during this break, MI may hand the captaincy back to Rohit. It is a huge call because as much as I understand the franchises and owners, they do not hesitate in taking these decisions. You started it when you took the captaincy away from Rohit and gave it to Hardik. Changing a five-time champion captain is a huge call.”
“The team has no points on the board and the captaincy has also been all over the place. Not like the captaincy has been very good and they have been unlucky. There have been mistakes when it comes to captaincy.” Tiwary said during the discussion on Cricbuzz.
Legendary India batter Virender Sehwag was also part of the discussion panel and he said that MI once lost five matches under Rohit’s captaincy before winning the tournament in the same season. As a result, he thinks that predicting a move like removing Hardik as captain in too premature.
“The thing that he said about Pandya – I think that was a bit hasty. Even under Rohit’s captaincy, the team has lost five matches in a row. That year, they went on to become champions. So, we need to show some patience. I think it is too early to say that and we need to wait for two more matches before we can make such a prediction,” the former Indian cricket team batter replied.
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