Former Cricketer Harbhajan Singh expressed his views on MI’s failure

Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh recently commented on the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) disappointing performance in the IPL 2024 season, attributing their struggles to appointing Hardik Pandya as captain. Singh, who played for MI for a decade, expressed his views in an interview with ANI. He remarked that the management’s choice to make Pandya captain backfired, as the five-time IPL champions finished at the bottom of the points table with only four wins from 14 matches. Singh praised the MI management but noted that their decision to prioritize prospects by making Pandya captain did not resonate well with the team. He suggested that the timing of this decision was off and might have been more effective if delayed by a year. “It seemed as if the Captain was playing differently and the entire team was different,” Singh observed, highlighting a lack of cohesion. He emphasized the crucial role of senior players in ensuring unity and collective play.

Before the 2024 season, MI management replaced long-time captain Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya, who had been remarkably successful as the captain of the Gujarat Titans, leading them to an IPL victory in 2022. Rohit Sharma, who captained MI from 2013 to 2023 and secured five IPL titles for the franchise, was replaced to usher in a new leadership era. However, this decision did not sit well with fans, who questioned Pandya’s on-field decisions and even booed him during matches. Harbhajan Singh defended Pandya, acknowledging his previous success with the Gujarat Titans and clarifying that the team’s collective performance, not Pandya alone, led to the poor season. “It is not Hardik Pandya’s fault since he was the captain of Gujarat Titans as well,” Singh stated, underscoring that senior players should have taken more responsibility to maintain team unity.

[Image Source: Cricket Addictor]