Mumbai Indians turned heads with a massive trade just before the auction getting hold of Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans after not retaining him two years ago. Moreover, the franchise decided to move on from Rohit Sharma the captain handing the reins to Hardik ahead of the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). This led to massive criticism especially among the fans but head coach Mark Boucher, in a recent interview, termed the move as 'purely cricketing decision'.
He also called it a transition phase while also stating that he wants Rohit to enjoy his time as a player without the pressure of leading the team. Notably, the former MI skipper endured a couple of ordinary seasons with the bat in 2022 and 2023 mustering only 268 at a strike rate of 120.18 and 332 runs at 132.80 respectively. "I think it was purely a cricketing decision. We saw the window period to get Hardik back as a player. For me it's a transition phase. A lot of people don't understand in India, people get quite emotional, but you know you take the emotions away from it.
"I think it's just more of a cricketing decision that was made and I do think it is going to bring the best out of Rohit as a person as a player. Just let him go out and enjoy and score some good runs," Boucher said on Smash Sports podcast. However, Rohit's wife Ritika Sajdeh has hinted at a massive controversy commenting on Instagram where the podcast has been shared stating that a lot of things have gone wrong. "So many things wrong with this," Ritika commented and that hasn't taken much time to catch the attention of the fans.
Here's the interview:
Here's her comment:
Notably, the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah had also posted cryptic stories on their Instagram account after Hardik Pandya's captaincy announcement was made official. But then, soon MI clarified indirectly that all is well between the players and the team. Several reports have surfaced since then regarding the matter but certainly, Ritika's comment suggests that all is not well behind the scenes between Rohit and Mumbai Indians and it will be interesting to see how he performs in IPL 2024.
