On Friday, the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise made a significant announcement, appointing Hardik Pandya as its new captain. The all-rounder, recently acquired from the Gujarat Titans in an all-cash transfer, took over the captaincy from Rohit Sharma. Rohit had successfully led MI for a decade, contributing to the team’s record-equalling five Indian Premier League (IPL) titles. However, this change in leadership was met with mixed reactions, with reports suggesting a substantial loss of followers on MI’s social media platforms.
Responding to the varied fan reactions, former South African cricket great AB de Villiers commented on the situation, noting that some individuals “took it a bit personally.”
“I think there are a lot of people happy about it, a lot of people upset about it. I read a post that said Mumbai Indians’ social platform lost like 1 million followers. I am not sure how accurate that is, but obviously, some people took it a bit personally with Rohit having to move on and make place for Hardik,” shared AB de Villiers on his YouTube channel.
Supporting the decision to change the captaincy, the former South African captain expressed, “I don’t think it is a bad move for Mumbai Indians. (It’s) something new. Rohit has had fantastic success over the years, winning a lot of trophies. Maybe being the captain for India puts a lot of pressure on him as well. Now it’s maybe just time for him to settle a bit, play, and enjoy the game and give the pressure to someone else.
“That could be the reason. I don’t think it could go any deeper than that. I don’t think Hardik would have come in with a dominating mentality saying like, ‘I am not playing if I am not captain.’ I don’t think it went along these lines.
“I really do think Rohit made a strategic decision for himself, to get himself a bit rested and be fresher for his batting skills and make sure that he scores runs.”
