Its quite some time now that Hardik Pandya has been appointed as the skipper of the Mumbai Indians; however, the debate between Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya regarding the captaincy is still very much trending.
On top of that, Hardik Pandya has not had the best start as Mumbai’s skipper. The team has lost three matches on the trot and is at the bottom of the table.
After Mumbai’s loss against Rajasthan, former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwari said that Hardik Pandya could be sacked as the captain. However, Shewag made an intriguing point in response to Tiwari’s statement.
On Cricbuzz, Sehwag said, “This statement about, I think, this has been made in haste. This team had lost five successive matches under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy too, 5-0. Then they were champions (they lost in the playoffs). So, they will be patient with Hardik, too. These are stats. They have been 0-3 down, too. But if this extends beyond that too, it might test the team’s patience.”
Sehwag further added, “Two-three franchises have done that. Punjab did that, Chennai did that when they gave the captaincy to Jadeja, and then Dhoni took over the captaincy again. But it happened midway through the season. I don’t think MI will think about the captaincy switch right now. You can’t change a captain after three games; that doesn’t send the right message to the team, either. But after seven games, when the season is right in the middle, they can take a call based on how the performance has been.”
Even former England skipper Michael Vaughan shared his views on the topic, saying that it’s quite shocking to see Indian fans booing their own players.
Michael Vaughan said, “The big debate is whether Rohit Sharma will end up back as captain. That has caused a lot of drama here in India. The booing… I have to say, the Indian crowd just loves cricket. I have never heard them boo. I’ve certainly never heard them boo one of their own. I got the booing when he played in Ahmedabad against the Gujarat Titans. He’s left them and joined Mumbai. He took them to a title. So I get that in a pantomime kind of way.”
Vaughan further added, “But for him to go to Hyderabad and get booed and then come to Wankhede and get booed by the Mumbai Indians fans while he is playing for them, I’m staggered by it. I have never seen the Indian crowd boo one of their own. It’s remarkable.”
