IPL 2024 | Mumbai Indians | Hardik Pandya:
17th IPL (Indian Premier League – 2024) The T20 cricket festival has been going on in India since March 22. The Mumbai Indians team is officially out of this series without qualifying for the play-offs. This has caused great dissatisfaction among the fans of the Mumbai team.
In this case, the senior players of the Mumbai Indians team have questioned the performance of the team led by captain Hardik Pandya. The Indian Express understands that Mumbai’s key players recently told the coaching staff that there is a ruckus in the dressing room over Hardik Pandya’s captaincy.
According to a Mumbai team management official, this is not a captaincy crisis, but a sign that a team that has been used to Rohit’s captaincy for the last 10 years is yet to adjust to a sudden change in captaincy. “These are typical problems for a team that sees a change of captaincy. It happens all the time in sports,” he said.
The players and coaching staff met after a game, people familiar said. Indian stars Rohit, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah were present during this meeting. During the meal, they have fully expressed their thoughts and pointed out the reasons why the team is not performing well. Later it is also revealed that there was one-to-one communication between certain seniors and team management representatives.
Tilak Varma is the flash point
Speaking after the loss to Delhi Capitals, skipper Hardik is said to have pointed to top-scorer Tilak Verma for his lack of “competition awareness”.
“When Axar Patel (Delhi bowler) bowls to the left-handed batsman (Tilak), he should be smashing his delivery. That’s the best way. I think the reason we missed was the lack of awareness of the match. In the end, we lost the game,” said the skipper. Hardik said.
Those in the know say that blaming one such player for Mumbai’s defeat has created an uproar in the dressing room.
Commenting on the match, pundits have pointed out that there is something wrong with the Mumbai team this season. Former Australian captain Michael Clarke went to the extent of saying that there was a split within the Mumbai team. “I think the team is divided in the dressing room. Something is not working for them. They are not playing together, they are not working as a team,” he said.
Like every year, the Mumbai team’s management have said that they will take stock of the season and, if necessary, take a decision on the team’s future.
The 5-time champions Mumbai Indians are languishing at the 9th position in the current season. Earlier this season, they removed Rohit Sharma, the current captain of the Indian team who helped the team win 5 IPL titles. The decision caused a lot of displeasure among Mumbai fans, with fans chanting against captain Hardik Pandya during the opening matches of the series. It is noteworthy that this created a sensation in the cricket community.
