Hardik Pandya and Rohit Sharma shared a hug with each other at the Mumbai Indians camp amidst the speculations of sourness between the two. Hardik is the new Mumbai Indians captain and Rohit Sharma was removed from the role to "enjoy" and score runs without much of a "hype".
Rohit joined the MI camp on Monday after a break from cricket, following the India vs England Test series. He has been practising at the nets since his return. Notably, ahead of a practice match at the MI camp, the two players hugged each other and the moment was captured by Mumbai Indians, who have shared it on social media.
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The video went viral on social media and fans shared it on their accounts. Notably, the MI team also travelled to Alibaug for a team bonding session on Tuesday but as per multiple reports, Rohit Sharma was not seen with the team. Now as per a report in Times of India, Rohit did not travel to the team bonding session as wanted to have an extra net session on the day. As per the same report, during the camp where Rohit and Hardik hugged each other, they also had a chat of about 5-10 minutes before the practice match.
There have been speculations of sourness between these two. MI head coach Mark Boucher had said that the decision to remove Rohit from captaincy was a cricketing one and people should not get emotional. He also said that this would allow Rohit to "enjoy" and score runs he did not had "probably the best couple of seasons of late with the bat, probably". Rohit's wife Ritika Sajdeh reacted to it saying, "So many wrong things about it".
The MI players have began practice about a week ago. Hardik Pandya was with the team and trained at the nets and also shared videos and pictures from the camp.
He and head coach Mark Boucher addressed the media in the pre-season press conference. He opened up on how it would be captain Rohit Sharma. "He will always be there to help me. This team, what it has achieved, it has achieved under him and I just have to carry that forward. He is going to have his hand on my shoulders," Hardik said at a press conference ahead of the new season of IPL.
He was also asked about the disappointment of the fans and the backlash he got on social media after he replaced Rohit Sharma as MI's skipper. "To be honest, I respect the fans and everything but at the same time we focus on the sport and I focus on what is required, Hardik added in the presser. "I control the controllable, I don't focus on which I can't control and at the same point, we are grateful to the fans as a lot of love, fame and name come from them. They have every right to express and we respect their opinion I am very excited and going to focus on it more," he said.
