Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers gave a big take on Mumbai Indians (MI) by naming Hardik Pandya as Indian Premier League (IPL) captain. He mentioned that it can be argued that Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah remained loyal to the franchise, but the all-rounder has more experience as a leader.
Hardik Pandya was on Friday (December 15) named captain of Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League. As part of the transition process, the all-rounder replaced senior Rohit Sharma, who captained the team for 10 long years and guided them to five titles.
Hardik Pandya’s appointment as captain of Mumbai Indians did not go down well with many. The fans did not go easy on the franchise at all as they lashed out at the five-time champions for the way they removed Rohit Sharma from leadership, especially after all he did for the franchise.
Mumbai Indians fans even burnt their jerseys and caps after the appointment of Hardik Pandya as captain. This was because the all-rounder left the team two years ago and was the leader of the Gujarat Titans, guiding them to a title victory in 2022 and then taking them to the final in 2023.
Hardik Pandya was recently returned to the Mumbai Indians in a cash swap. It’s fair to say that with Rohit Sharma around no one expected him to captain the team. Therefore, the decision provoked many negative reactions.
Ab de Villiers was asked in an interaction on his YouTube channel about the appointment of Hardik Pandya as captain of Mumbai Indians with Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah present. Responding to this, he highlighted how versatile he has been a part of the blue and gold franchise in IPL.
Ab de Villiers added that fans should welcome Hardik Pandya back to Mumbai Indians and said he found the negative reactions related to him very strange. He explained:
“Hardik has been in Mumbai for a long time. He was always a Mumbai boy and played for them from the beginning of the IPL. He was with them when they lifted some trophies. It can be said that Surya and Bumrah remained loyal to the brand and Hardik decided to move on, but he is back.
“I found it strange that Hardik’s appointment provoked such negative reactions. Mumbai Indians’ social platform lost around a million followers and people are upset. You should be happy that he is coming back.”
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Ab de Villiers further urged fans to extend their support to Hardik Pandya. He said if the all-rounder lifts the trophy next year, people will have no problem with naming him. He explained:
“I know he played two IPL seasons for Gujarat Titans, won a trophy there and reached the final in another. But now he wants to return as a more experienced player and captain. Give a boy a lift, welcome him to the Mumbai Indians camp. I’m pretty sure that if he lifts the trophy with the rest of the team, you guys won’t have any problem with that.”
With the kind of success that Rohit Sharma has achieved as the leader of the Mumbai Indians, Hardik Pandya will have an additional baggage of expectations. It remains to be seen how he deals with his affairs.