What a turnaround it has been for Hardik Pandya. Not for his personal good though. The man grabbed all the spotlight for his sensational performance in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup final as he bowled the last over which ensured India clinch a T20 World Cup title after 17 years.
However, in less than three weeks since being the nation's darling, the selectors and the coach chose Suryakumar Yadav over him for India's T20I captaincy role. Even as he continues to battle personal problems and confirmed his separation with Natasa Stankovic, his professional life also seems to bringing him down, at least as far his leadership ambitions are now concerned.
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And now a report carried by PTI seems to question whether he would be able to remain the captain of Mumbai Indians (MI) after being roped in by the franchise from Gujarat Titans (GT) in an all-cash deal. This is because MI also have Suryakumar Yadav who after being named the country's T20I captain may harbour ambitions of leading an IPL franchise. He might agree to be retained by the team only if he is made the skipper.
Future Of Rohit Sharma At MI Also Uncertain
The future of Rohit Sharma at MI is also uncertain. The star batter has led the team to each of their five titles so far and months after he was removed as the captain, he led the national team to a T20 World Cup win, a feat that only MS Dhoni had managed to achieve for India before him. Will he be interested in getting retained by MI? It remains to be seen.
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Other than Rohit and SKY, Hardik will also have leadership competition from Jasprit Bumrah. The same PTI report says that even though Jasprit Bumrah has always been interested in a leadership role, he has rarely been provided with a chance to lead the team. What happens to Pandya then at the franchise will be interesting to see as the next auction will be about creating a core which remains more or less same for the next five years.