A cryptic comment from Rohit Sharma’s wife Ritika Sajdeh on Instagram has set the rumour mills abuzz after Mumbai Indians coach Mark Boucher explained in a podcast why the franchise decided to elevate Hardik Pandya as captain in place of their most successful skipper.
Responding to a clip on Instagram, Ritika commented: “So many things wrong with this.”
This section of the podcast, which had been posted on Instagram, has since been deleted.
Pandya was with Gujarat Titans for two seasons where he led them to an IPL title in the first season and to the final in the second year. Earlier, he had been an integral part of the Mumbai Indians squad for four of their five titles between 2015 and 2021.
In the clip, Boucher tells Smash Sports podcast: “We saw a window to get Hardik back as a player... We still want him (Rohit) as a player, absolutely because we know he has some great value to add and just go out there and actually enjoy it, without the hype of being the captain,” he said.
“He probably hasn’t had the best couple of seasons with the bat but he has done well as captain and I just thought after speaking with whole Mumbai Indians group,
we thought may be this is an opportunity for him to step in for his last year or so,” the coach added.
The hype around an Indian skipper will still be there but Boucher expects Rohit to operate more freely with the bat.
“He will still captain India so that hype is going to be there but when he steps into the IPL, may be take that extra bit of pressure off him as captain and may be we get the best out of Rohit Sharma...,” he hoped.
“...playing with nice smile on his face and spending time with beautiful family that he has got, there’s no easy way to do it,” he said.
Boucher said Rohit’s busy schedule also puts pressure on the Indian captain.
“One thing I picked up with Roh is that he is a fantastic guy and he has been captaining for ages and he has been doing really well and not just for MI but for India as well, he walks into a place and there are cameras on him and he is so busy,” Boucher said.
The South African urged fans to understand his removal was a cricketing decision.
“For me it’s a transition phase. A lot of people don’t understand this in India and people get quite emotional about it...it is more of a cricketing decision that was made...it will bring the best out of Rohit as a person and a player and let him just go out there enjoy and score some good runs.”
On Pandya’s return, Boucher said: “He is a Mumbai Indians boy and he won his first year as captain and came runners-up in the second year, so there’s obviously some very good leadership skills.”
