The rift between Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya in the Mumbai Indians dressing room has widened as reports have emerged confirming two groups getting formed in the dressing room in the ongoing IPL 2024.
MI still has one match to play, but they have little chance of making the playoffs. Their only goal is to avoid finishing last in the points table when they meet the Lucknow Super Giants in their final IPL 2024 match on Friday at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
MI must defeat LSG and hope that PBKS loses their final match. However, they have more pressing concerns than dealing with LSG or praying for PBKS’s loss.
The tensions between previous captain Rohit Sharma and new skipper Hardik Pandya have grown to the point where two camps have formed in the MI dressing room.
MI faced the anger of the fans for bringing Hardik back from Gujarat Titans and then appointing him as captain at the start of the season, succeeding Rohit, their most successful skipper and the first to win five IPL titles.
Rohit Sharma gets backing from MI Indian players; Hardik Pandya gets support from foreign contingent
As per a report in Dainik Jagran, Indian players of MI are in favor of reinstating Rohit as captain while the overseas players have sided with Hardik. MI doesn’t have any big names as far as overseas recruits are concerned.
This comes after AB de Villiers said that senior MI players like Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav do not need Hardik Pandya’s ego-driven leadership. On the other hand, MI’s big-hitting batter Tim David referred to Hardik as the “glue” of the team earlier in the team.
The article also stated that Rohit and Hardik have rarely practiced together in the IPL. On the eve of the match against KKR, the Indian captain, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma, departed the scene as soon as they saw Hardik step up to the nets.
Hardik and Rohit’s form are also cause for concern. While Hardik has had one of his worst seasons with the bat, Rohit has had a significant drop in form in the second half of the competition.
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