As the Mumbai Indians suffered another defeat under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya, questions arose over the team’s dynamics, especially over the leadership structure. While Hardik is the designated captain of the team, it’s Rohit Sharma who has often been seen setting the field and talking to players over strategies in tense situations. After MI got off to a horror start against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match on Monday, commentator Irfan Pathan made a bold remark, saying certain players are still seeing Rohit as their captain, not Hardik. (IPL 2024 Points Table)
Irfan referred to the pre-final over visuals from the match between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings. In a video that went viral on social media, Mumbai Indians pacer Akash Madhwal could be seen giving more attention to Rohit’s tactical advice while Hardik looked more like an observer in the talk.
Rohit Sharma was giving tips to both Hardik and Madhwal when Punjab was taking the game away.
Once a leader, always a leader.#MIvsPBKS pic.twitter.com/Rcxr22UDM5
— ANSHUMAN (@AvengerReturns) April 18, 2024
Speaking of the incident during the match between MI and RR, Irfan claimed that Madhwal still sees Rohit as his skipper and not Hardik, which is a problem that needs to be urgently fixed.
“Akash Madhwal was there and there was Hardik Pandya. It was a pressure situation and Madhwal was just looking at Rohit Sharma. He was talking only to him regarding setting the field. This happens when you have that confidence ‘he is my captain, not the other guy’. This needs to change and I think Hardik Pandya is capable of doing it,” Irfan Pathan said during commentary on Star Sports during the RR vs MI game on Monday.
Irfan Pathan TALKING about Akash madhwal ignoring Hardik pandya and following Rohit Sharma’s Captaincy !!
Irfan Pathan owned Hardik pandya #RRvsMIpic.twitter.com/0Q6awwg5go
— Prxths⁴⁵ (@Same45Fan) April 22, 2024
The Mumbai Indians did recover from the horror start with the bat against Rajasthan Royals, with Tilak Varma and Nihal Wadhera taking the team to a respectable total of 180 runs. But, Sanju Samson‘s team remained relentless in their pursuit of the target, and managed to overhaul the total with 8 balls to spare.
For Rajasthan, Yashasvi Jaiswal was the star with the bat, scoring his second century in the IPL.
