Did Mumbai Indians shoot themselves in the foot when they removed Rohit Sharma and replaced him with Hardik Pandya as captain?

It was on December 15, 2023, that Mumbai Indians (MI) announced Hardik Pandya as Rohit Sharma’s successor, declaring him the franchise’s captain for the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) and beyond. At the time, the move made sense. Rohit was no longer producing the kind of returns he once did, and Mumbai had gone three seasons without a trophy. Hardik, meanwhile, had enjoyed tremendous success with Gujarat Titans, leading them to the IPL title in 2022 before finishing runners-up the following year.

However, three seasons later, little has changed. If anything, MI’s credibility has taken a massive hit after enduring two forgettable campaigns in the last three years. Was bringing Hardik Pandya back the right call? Definitely not, according to former India cricketers Murali Kartik and Manoj Tiwary. As MI battle Lucknow Super Giants to avoid finishing with the wooden spoon for the second time in three seasons, the question remains: did Pandya’s arrival from GT do more harm than good? Kartik certainly believes so.

“When you have a captain who has won five titles for you and done so much for the franchise – and he has won the T20 World Cup as well – removing him from captaincy was always going to create issues. And who were the players retained? Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav. Those were your three retentions. Suryakumar Yadav is India’s T20 captain, Jasprit Bumrah is one of India’s leaders, and Rohit Sharma is a giant in himself. Suddenly, you bring in someone from outside. That is bound to disturb the atmosphere,” he said on Cricbuzz after MI’s four-wicket-loss to Kolkata Knight Riders.

“Whatever the situation may be, players are naturally shocked. If Rohit himself did not want to continue, then that’s a different matter. But at the very least, a player who has won five trophies and done so much for the franchise deserved the respect of being asked first. At that point, he was India’s captain, had just won a World Cup, and was returning with immense stature. He deserved enough respect for the management to ask whether he wanted to continue or not. Instead, you brought back someone from another franchise.”

Hardik’s captaincy record has worsened steadily. In 38 matches, he has won just 15, resulting in a win percentage of 39.47, the lowest among MI captains with more than 10 matches in charge. With multiple leadership contenders such as Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah waiting in the wings, Kartik believes Hardik’s return may not have gone down well within the dressing room.