A recently surfaced old video shows Hardik Pandya using offensive language towards Rohit Sharma, and following this, the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise decided to replace Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as captain for the upcoming IPL 2024 season.
The public announcement of this decision has triggered significant backlash from fans. Expressing their discontent through trending topics on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and other channels, fans have shown their dissatisfaction. This uproar has been reflected in a noticeable decline in MI’s Instagram and X followers.
One fan shared a brief clip from a 2022 T20I match between India and England, highlighting a moment where Hardik Pandya seemed to make a veiled derogatory comment about the Indian captain.
During the second T20I in Birmingham on July 9, 2022, while setting the field during his bowling over, Pandya apparently used a few derogatory Hindi words, suggesting that attention should be paid to him and not to the captain, Rohit Sharma.
Sanjay Manjrekar, former Indian batter, recently expressed support for MI’s decision to appoint Hardik Pandya as captain. In an interview with Star Sports, Manjrekar rationalized the move, emphasizing the importance of not being overly sentimental or emotional about Rohit Sharma.
He praised Pandya as a proven leader in form and highlighted his impressive T20 performance, juxtaposing it with Rohit Sharma’s extended tenure in the cricketing circuit.