Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has expressed concern over Hardik Pandya’s decision to leave the Gujarat Titans captaincy and join the Mumbai Indians, where he is unlikely to lead in the IPL 2024 and believes that this move may not reflect well on Pandya’s resume as a skipper, as he was a successful captain for Gujarat Titans.
Following his promising leadership role at Titans, Pandya was even considered as a possible replacement for Rohit Sharma as India’s T20I captain.
In 2022, Hardik Pandya along with head coach Ashish Nehra, led Gujarat to IPL victory in their debut season and to the final against MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2023.
Pandya’s impressive leadership skills convinced the senior national selectors to appoint him as the T20I captain, and he led the Indian T20I teams for the past year while Rohit Sharma and other senior players were preparing for the ODI World Cup in 2023.
Speaking on his YouTube Channel, Aakash Chopra feels that Hardik Pandya’s move to Mumbai Indians would affect his captaincy resume going forward for the Indian team and questioned about his role with the Men in Blue in the shorter format of the game, given the uncertainty of Rohit Sharma’s role with the Indian T20 team.
“The one thing that won’t look good on Hardik’s CV is that he left Mumbai because he wanted to become a captain. You went to Gujarat and then became the Indian captain. You will no longer be a franchise captain now but you still want to be India’s captain – it doesn’t sit right.
“It doesn’t look right whether you look from optics or any other angle, that you are not your franchise’s captain but are India’s captain in the T20 World Cup. It doesn’t sound right but so be it,” Aakash Chopra said.
Hardik Pandya was retained by the Gujarat Titans on deadline day and joined the five-times Mumbai Indians on Monday as the deal was completed in cash, with Mumbai paying a transfer fee to the 2022 IPL champion. The Indian all-rounder, who began his IPL career with MI in 2015, captained GT for the last two seasons, leaving an ever-lasting impact as the leader of the franchise.
Kris Srikkanth On Gujarat Titans Letting Go Their Skipper Hardik Pandya
Former India captain Kris Srikkanth stated that he expected Rohit Sharma to pass over the captaincy of Mumbai Indians to Hardik Pandya and guarantee a smooth transition, similar to how MS Dhoni did with the senior national side when he relinquished captaincy and allowed Virat Kohli to grow under him.
“Gujarat would have gained financially but the team didn’t gain at all. A captain who won you the title in the first year and took you to the final in the second year is no longer a part of your squad. They might have thought something if they are doing that,” Kris Srikkanth said.
Rohit Sharma-led side may have to make some tough choices to accommodate Hardik Pandya in their team as he holds a hefty price tag to his name, as they letting go of another all-rounder Cameron Green to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Monday.