Cricket

The Mumbai Indians' (MI) decision to reinstate Hardik Pandya as captain proved to be a costly mistake, according to former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh. The team failed to perform as a cohesive unit, leading to a disappointing season.After a successful two-year stint with Gujarat Titans (GT), where Pandya led the team to the title in their inaugural season, MI brought him back as captain. However, the move was met with criticism on social media, as Rohit Sharma was replaced.Pandya and the team faced intense backlash during their matches, with MI finishing at the bottom of the standings with just four wins. Pandya's performances were also underwhelming, failing to produce game-winning efforts.Harbhajan believes that MI's decision to reinstate Pandya was a mistake that caused the team to become disunified. He suggests that the timing of the decision may have been off, and that it could have been better received if made a year later."MI has a big team. I have played for it. The management is great and runs the team well. But this decision has backfired. Maybe the thinking was to look for the future. It seems that it did not sit well with the team as they did not look united," said Harbhajan.Pandya's statistics for the season were underwhelming, with 216 runs at an average of 18.00 and 11 wickets at an average of 35.18. However, fans will be hoping to see a different Pandya in the blue jersey for India at the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.As vice-captain, Pandya will be a key component of Rohit Sharma's Team India. His all-round ability and penchant for performing under pressure will be crucial for India's success in the tournament.

The Mumbai Indians' dismal performance in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season has left owner Nita Ambani deeply disappointed. The team finished at the bottom of the 10-team points table, winning only 4 out of 10 matches.Ambani, who is also a passionate fan of the Mumbai Indians, expressed her disappointment in a video shared on social media. "Disappointing season for all of us. Things didn't go the way we wanted them to," she said.The season was marked by a change in captaincy, with Hardik Pandya taking over from Rohit Sharma. However, the move failed to yield the desired results. Ambani acknowledged that the team needs to review its performance and identify areas for improvement."I think to wear the Mumbai Indians jersey is a huge honor and a privilege, and to be associated with Mumbai Indians, for me, is an honor and a privilege. I think, we will go back, review and think about it," she said.Ambani also extended her best wishes to the Indian quartet of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah, who will now represent India in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024."To Rohit, Hardik, Surya (Suryakumar Yadav) and (Jasprit) Bumrah, I think, all Indians are cheering for you. We wish you all the best," she added.The T20 World Cup 2024 campaign begins for the Indian team on June 05, with the first match against Ireland. India will also take on Bangladesh in a warm-up clash on June 01.

Mumbai Indians (MI) endured a disastrous Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 campaign, finishing at the bottom of the points table. Head coach Mark Boucher acknowledged the team's struggles and emphasized the need for patience and careful consideration before making changes.Boucher addressed Hardik Pandya's captaincy and batting struggles, acknowledging the all-rounder's leadership potential. Despite a disappointing season, Boucher believes Pandya will learn from this experience and emerge as a stronger leader."Even Hardik would've been disappointed with his performance. From a captain's perspective, he had some excellent games," Boucher said. "There's a lot of stuff going around him that clouds his thoughts now and again, which is also challenging for him as a leader."Boucher believes Pandya will grow as a leader and gain knowledge from this experience. "He certainly had a lot of support within our dressing room, and guys are trying to help him out, but it is tricky to go through as a player. It is what it is, and it will undoubtedly be a learning curve for him with his leadership growth."Regarding his own future, Boucher remained tight-lipped but underlined the importance of making decisions after a cool-headed assessment. "With regards to my stuff, I'm not too sure where I'm going, to be honest. As I said, it's early days at the moment. A lot of people are emotional. There's probably going to be discussions about all of us."Boucher also expressed concerns about MI's subpar performance over the last three years. "It's disappointing. After our auction, we identified our bowlers as something we wanted to strengthen, and we felt that we did that. At the beginning of the season, losing two players wasn't great for us, but we still had some great options.""We just haven't managed to combine our batting and bowling in one single match. One has always let the other down, which is unfortunate," Boucher said. "This is a cause for concern, and it is certainly something that we need to address as a franchise."

Rohit Sharma's Disappointing IPL 2024 Season: A Tale of Inconsistency and Team StrugglesIndian cricket team skipper Rohit Sharma endured a disappointing IPL 2024 season with his franchise Mumbai Indians. Despite scoring 417 runs in 14 matches with an average of 32.08, inconsistency plagued his performance. Mumbai Indians also suffered a major slump in form, finishing at the bottom of the IPL points table with only four wins from 14 matches.The season began on a controversial note for Mumbai Indians when they appointed Hardik Pandya as captain in place of Rohit Sharma. This decision sparked rumors of a rift between the two cricketers, which was further fueled by Mumbai Indians' poor start to the competition.Hardik Pandya faced criticism as both player and captain as Mumbai Indians continued to lose crucial games. The team's struggles were evident in their first three matches, where they suffered defeats. Pandya was even booed by a section of the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.Rohit Sharma's next assignment will be to lead the Indian cricket team in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024. India will face Ireland in their tournament opener on June 5. Hardik Pandya's inclusion in the squad as vice-captain has been a topic of discussion among experts.Despite the disappointing IPL season, Rohit Sharma remains a key figure in Indian cricket. His leadership and experience will be crucial for India's success in the T20 World Cup.

The Indian cricket team, along with its extensive support staff, will embark on their journey to the Twenty20 World Cup in New York on May 25. The remaining players will depart after the May 26 IPL final.Initially, players from teams eliminated from the IPL playoffs were scheduled to leave for New York on May 21, two days after the final league game on May 19. However, plans have been revised, and the first batch will now depart on May 25."Players like Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant, Arshdeep Singh, and Axar Patel, along with support staff, are expected to leave on May 25," a BCCI source revealed on condition of anonymity."The departure date for the first batch was originally May 21, but since India is only playing one warm-up game (against Bangladesh on June 1), the players will have extra time at home," the source added.Only players participating in the IPL final will remain and depart for New York on May 27. This will provide the squad with ample time to adjust to the time difference and have several quality net sessions before the Bangladesh warm-up match.India will begin their World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5 in New York, followed by the highly anticipated clash against Pakistan on June 9.

Mumbai Indians' dismal IPL 2024 campaign reached a bitter end with a 10th defeat and a one-match ban for captain Hardik Pandya. The team's over-rate offense during their final match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Wankhede Stadium resulted in Pandya's suspension and a hefty fine of Rs 30 lakh.This marks the third over-rate offense for Mumbai Indians this season, leading to the severe punishment for Pandya. The rest of the playing XI, including the Impact Player, were also fined either Rs 12 lakh or 50% of their match fees.Pandya's suspension echoes a similar punishment faced by Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant earlier this week. Despite an appeal citing reasons for the delay, the decision was upheld.With the match against LSG being Mumbai Indians' last of the season, Pandya will likely miss the team's opening match of the next season as part of his punishment.The season has been a nightmare for the five-time champions, who managed to win only four of their 14 league matches, finishing at the bottom of the table. Their struggles culminated in their final match, where they failed to chase down LSG's target, ending their campaign on a disappointing note.

Mumbai Indians' disappointing IPL 2024 campaign, which culminated in a tenth-place finish, has been attributed to the negative fan reaction to the change in captaincy from Rohit Sharma to Hardik Pandya, according to head coach Mark Boucher.The team's performance suffered as the crowd's disapproval of Pandya's leadership became evident. Boucher expressed sympathy for Pandya, acknowledging that the off-field distractions may have affected his on-field performances."It wasn't great hearing all the boos," Boucher said. "Certainly, I felt sorry for Hardik as well. It's never nice to go through something like that."Boucher admitted that the team's performance was below par and that changes need to be made. He emphasized the need to address both on-field and off-field issues to improve the team's performance in the future."There are certain things that did affect individuals, which ultimately did affect the team," Boucher said. "So those are the sort of things we need to sit down and address and hopefully make some good calls going forward as well to address the off-field stuff."Despite the challenges, Boucher believes that Pandya has the potential to be a successful captain. He highlighted Pandya's support within the dressing room and expressed confidence that he will learn from this experience."He certainly had a lot of support within our dressing room but it's a tough thing to go through as a player," Boucher said. "There's a lot of sympathy for what he's going through. A lot of the stuff he is going through is, I think, uncalled for."Regarding Rohit Sharma's future with the franchise, Boucher stated that no decision has been made. He emphasized that Sharma is in control of his own destiny and that the team will have to wait and see what happens in the upcoming auction.

Mumbai Indians' dismal 2024 IPL season, which culminated in a second last-place finish in three years, has left captain Hardik Pandya deeply disappointed. The five-time champions, who also finished last in 2022, managed to win only four out of 14 games under Pandya's leadership.Reflecting on the season, Pandya acknowledged that the team's performance fell significantly short of expectations. "We did not play good quality cricket, eventually cost us the whole season," he said after MI's 18-run loss to Lucknow Super Giants in Mumbai. "It's a professional world. Have to always come out and put our best foot forward. But yes, as a group we could not play quality cricket or smart cricket."Pandya's return to the MI setup was met with much fanfare, but the team struggled to find consistency throughout the season. Injuries to key players, including Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer, further hampered their progress.Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul, whose team also finished out of the play-off zone, expressed similar disappointment. "Very disappointing. At the start of the season, I felt we had a very strong season and most bases covered. Couple of injuries happen but the guys who went away dented us a little bit," Rahul said, referring to the absence of Mayank Yadav.Rahul, who is not part of the Indian team for the upcoming T20 World Cup, remained non-committal on whether he would bat in the middle order in the future. "Maybe, maybe not, there's not much T20 cricket coming up [for me] now," he said. "It depends on where I stand and what I need to do to get back in the team, I'll think about what the team needs."As the dust settles on another disappointing season for Mumbai Indians, Pandya and his team will likely dissect what went wrong and look to make significant changes ahead of the 2025 IPL season.

Former Australian cricketer Shane Watson has hinted that the upcoming match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 could be Rohit Sharma's final game for Mumbai Indians (MI). This speculation stems from the recent appointment of Hardik Pandya as MI's new skipper, which has raised questions about Rohit's future with the franchise.Rohit, 37, has been an integral part of Mumbai Indians, leading them to five IPL titles since taking over the captaincy in 2013. However, the change in leadership has sparked rumors that IPL 2024 could be his last season with the team.In the current season, Rohit has been in impressive form, scoring 349 runs at a strike rate of 145.42 in 13 matches. His contributions have been significant, but the leadership change has led to increased speculation about his tenure with MI.Speaking on Jio Cinema, Watson expressed his belief that the match against LSG could mark the end of an era for Rohit with Mumbai Indians. "This could be Rohit Sharma's last game for Mumbai Indians," Watson said. "You never know how exactly things will play out after this season, but what an incredible player he has been and a leader for the Mumbai Indians."Watson also questioned the decision to remove Rohit from the captaincy, calling it a "wrong call." He believes that Rohit is a well-respected leader and that the change has destabilized the team. "For me personally, I think that was the wrong call," Watson said. "Because he is such a well-respected leader. It just shook up the team, knowing that they could move on next season potentially and have Hardik Pandya as captain."Last year, MI announced that Hardik Pandya would lead the franchise in the 2024 edition of the league. Pandya, who guided the Gujarat Titans to the IPL title in its debut season, returned to Mumbai after a successful stint with the Titans.The Mumbai-based franchise currently stands at the bottom of the IPL 2024 standings with eight points. Hardik Pandya's side has won just four games after playing 13 matches, displaying a sloppy performance in the tournament.