Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mark Boucher recently explained why Rohit Sharma was removed as Mumbai Indians captain ahead of IPL 2024. In a groundbreaking trade, senior all-rounder Hardik Pandya returned to Mumbai Indians after leading Gujarat Titans for two years. Just four days before the IPL 2024 mini auction, he was appointed as the captain of the five-time IPL title-winning team.
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 and as a player. Just let him go out and enjoy and score some good runs,” Mark Boucher said on a podcast.
“I mean one of the things I have spoken about is when you arrive at the IPL and he (Chris Morris) will be able to tell you as well that there’s a lot of stuff going on, there are photoshoots and this and that and a lot of emphasis is not actually on the cricket. It’s more about the advertising and all that sort of stuff,” Boucher added.
Rohit made his captaincy debut for Mumbai Indians in 2013 and in his 10-year tenure, he led the team to 5 IPL title wins. Boucher lauded the 35-year-old for his leadership skills but also admitted that the opener has not scored runs in the last few IPL seasons. He reckoned that being taken off the burden of captaincy would help him play more freely.
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