‘Who will be comfortable or…’: Harbhajan Singh on Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya's equation over MI captaincy saga
Harbhajan Singh shared his honest views about Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya's equation over Mumbai's captaincy saga before IPL 2024.
With the Mumbai Indians (MI) camp witnessing an unexpected change in leadership for the new season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), legendary cricketer Harbhajan Singh has shared his honest views about the captaincy saga. After guiding 2022 winners Gujarat Titans (GT) to back-to-back finals in the cash-rich league, all-rounder Hardik Pandya has returned to Mumbai Indians for the 2024 season. Following MI and GT's all-cash deal for Pandya, the former Gujarat skipper was named the successor of Rohit Sharma at Mumbai.
Pandya has been out of action since October. The all-rounder suffered an ankle injury, which cut short his World Cup campaign last year. Pandya's move to MI and his appointment as the new captain of the franchise upset a few fans in the build-up to the new season of the world's richest T20 league. India's all-format skipper Rohit masterminded MI's all five IPL titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. Speaking about the captaincy change at MI, former Mumbai skipper Harbhajan said that only time will tell whether Rohit will be comfortable working under the leadership of Pandya.
'Who will be comfortable or who will not?'
"Only time will tell. Who will be comfortable or who will not? Mumbai Indians have been a solid and formidable team in IPL. I am sure they would love to leave the controversies behind and pave the way for the future," Harbhajan told The Times of India. Former MI skipper Rohit is heading to the IPL 2024 after guiding India to an impressive 4-1 series win over England in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC). Indian skipper Rohit smashed 400 runs in the five-match Test series against Ben Stokes' England at home. The 36-year-old notched up two centuries against England's Bazballers.
Harbhajan on Rohit
“Credit to Rohit also -- the way he handled and guided these youngsters, and showed trust and faith in them. It was just amazing. He is an amazing leader. Be it Yashasvi, Sarfaraz, Shubman (Gill), or Jurel, they all needed a platform and a captain who could push them forward. They needed a hand on their shoulders and Rohit played that big role very, very well. He was a captain and a big brother to these youngsters in the series,” Harbhajan said.
