Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has opened up on one of the most hotly debated topics going around in the Indian cricketing circles - Hardik Pandya taking the reins of Mumbai Indians' (MI) captaincy from Rohit Sharma ahead of the IPL 2024 season.
While speaking on Star Sports, the 1983 World Cup winner opined that the decision had been taken "for the benefit of the team". He mentioned that Rohit has not been performing well enough as a batter in the Indian Premier League lately and the team has also not gotten the results it has been expecting in the previous few seasons.
"We shouldn't go into rights and wrongs. But, the decision they have taken is for the benefit of the team. In the last two years, Rohit's contribution, even with the bat, has dipped a little bit. Earlier, he used to score big, but in the last two years they finished No. 9 or No. 10 the year before last year and in the last year they qualified for the playoffs," Gavaskar said.
"But we missed seeing the mojo in Rohit Sharma that we used to see in the previous few years. Maybe, he was a little tired because of playing continuous cricket, he was a little tired because of captaincy, leading India and the franchise," he added.
The former India opener also mentioned that Mumbai's decision seems to be influenced by Hardik's meteoric rise as a young leader and the way the star allrounder led Gujarat Titans (GT) in the previous two seasons.
"I feel that the decision, they have kept in mind that Hardik is a young captain who has produced results. Hardik has led Gujarat to the finals twice, and he led them to the title in 2022. I think they have made him captain by considering all this," he concluded.
Notably, Rohit led Mumbai to five IPL titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020 respectively. The decision to remove him from the captaincy has marked the end of an illustrious era in the marquee tournament.
