Mumbai Indians named Hardik Pandya, after the allrounder was picked up by Mumbai Indians in an all-cash pre-auction deal.
Cameroon Green had to be released to Royal Challengers Bangalore to accommodate the buyback for Hardik Pandya after 2 long years.
With a great mini-auction, the Mumbai Team ticked all the boxes to make it a serious IPL 2024 Contender, but in the bargain have they just lost their MVP for the 2025 season?

 Presented by: Raghunath Nair

Introduction

Rohit Sharma will lead Team India in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and USA.

A successful ODI World Cup campaign by team India seeing them reach the finals under the leadership of Rohit Sharma would have prompted the selectors to continue him as captain of the Indian National Team for the T20 World Cup.

After being unavailable for T20 Internationals since the 2022 T20 World Cup, Rohit Sharma is back to lead the Indian team for the World Cup.
Hardik Pandya captained the Indian team in Rohit’s absence during the interim.
Now that Rohit Sharma has made himself available for the T20 World Cup and made the captain, the decision to make Hardik Pandya, captain of the MI Team will go down as the most unpopular decision in IPL history.

Was the three poor IPL prompting the decision of a fresh guard?

Mumbai Indians would have gone with Hardik Pandya with the future in mind as Rohit is also not getting younger. Also, an expectation of a big auction in 2025 may have prompted the decision to buy Hardik in an all-cash deal from Gujarat Titans.

Hardik Pandya is a Mumbai Indian find and it was but natural for a homecoming. But how Rohit Sharma’s captaincy was passed on to Hardik Pandya raised a few eyebrows.

What happens to Rohit Sharma?

The unavailability of Jasprit Bumrah, the move of Hardik Pandya to Gujarat Titans, and the huge investment failure on Jofra Archer played a huge part in Mumbai Indian’s trophy draught in the past 3 seasons.
A proud Mumbai Indian Franchise is very hungry to dominate the IPL again and hence has taken this unpopular decision of captaincy change.
This may be the last edition we see Rohit Sharma in the Mumbai Indians colors.
11 Seasons and 5 Trophies later Rohit will play this season as a pure batsman, while he captains the Indian national team in the upcoming T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA.

Is this MI’s IPL and India’s T20 World Cup

Mumbai Indians team – A Serious Contender

Not all is happy with the decision of replacing Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya. But if the team can bring everyone to one page, they are a serious contender to the IPL trophy this year.
After 2 very bad seasons, Mumbai Indians showed some spirited performance even in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer in the 2023 edition.
They won 8 games in their 14 matches which was a great turnaround after their 2 dismal performances from their previous 2 season outings.
The Mega Auction too did not help the 5-time champions to maintain a pre-mega auction nucleus which they prided on.
In the 2023 edition, Mumbai Indians were fourth in the points table but eventually got knocked out in the eliminator.
The Return of Jaspreet Bumrah is great news for all MI fans.

Having Hardik back in Mumbai Indians colors in an all-cash deal from Gujarat Titans and how they used the remaining 17.5 cr in the 2024 mini auction has to be appreciated.
This also proves what 2024 means for the Mumbai Indians owners.
With a tight budget of just 17.5 Cr, Mumbai Indians were able to buy 8 key players to plug the gaps in the squad with ease.

Post the mini-auction, Mumbai Indians look like the Mumbai Indians of the past and are now serious Title Contenders. With all bases covered, they look like a well-decked team in the competition
Though not a top contender, can a motivated Rohit Sharma lead the Indian side to its second T20 World Title?

Will there be a change in the nucleus of the MI Team

What happens to Surya Kumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Ishan Kishan?

While MI was happy to see Hardik Pandya back in the team, the decision of Hardik to replace Rohit as MI captain has not gone well amongst the MI fans.

When Hardik was brought into the squad, it was learned that some franchise teams were interested in Rohit Sharma but MI owners denied any trade for Rohit Sharma.

Mumbai Indians announcing the Hardik Transfer and captaincy announcement after the transfer window gave no chance for Rohit Sharma to have a say. This is the ugly truth of competitive Franchise sports.

The Captaincy replacement would have also not gone well at the Mumbai Camp as the team members are said to be very close to the Team India Captain.

Surya Kumar Yadav and Jaspreet Bumrah would have been eyeing the Mumbai India captaincy after Rohit Sharma’s retirement. The two seniors in the team have experience of being Stand-in captains for team India.  Sky has captained the Mumbai Ranji Team also.

Will Rohit Sharma, Sky, Ishan Kishan, and Jaspreet Bumrah be the same under Hardik Pandya?

Will they remain loyal to the franchise or move to another franchise either in this season or in the next season when the auctions come back for the 2025 season?

There has been a huge backlash from the fans in various social media outlets. The Image of a happy Mumbai Indians fan base famously known as “The Paltan” has been seriously dented.

Will a championship trophy change that? Only time will tell?
Current squad:
Hardik Pandya (Traded from GT), Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera, Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Romario Shepherd (Traded from LSG), Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madhushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Namandhir Singh, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma

Conclusion

The 2024 IPL could well be Rohit Sharma‘s last as a player in the Mumbai Indians jersey after the popular franchise announced Hardik Pandya as its skipper.
Rohit Sharma has been truly the MVP for Mumbai Indians in the last decade and fans will be very eager tp know Rohit’s future plans.

Some teams who would be interested to pick up the Mumbai Player for their future team will be

• Chennai Super Kings
  • A perfect replacement to M. S. Dhoni

• Sun Risers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings
  • Both teams have struggled to get a permanent captain for the side.

• Royal Challengers Bangalore
  • An Indian Captain is needed as RCB historically has been too dependent on their foreign players apart from King Kohli.
  • Rohit and Virat in the same team could be a match made in heaven.

• Delhi Capitals
  • A mentor for Rishab Pant will be ideal for Delhi’s future plans.