IPL 2024: Hardik Pandya Replaces Five-Time Tournament-Winning Captain Rohit Sharma As MI Skipper

IPL 2024: Hardik Pandya replaces Rohit Sharma at the helm of affairs in Mumbai Indians despite the latter having led the team to five IPL titles.

Hardik Pandya.

In what comes as a massive news ahead of IPL 2024, Mumbai Indians have announced that it will be Hardik Pandya who will replace Rohit Sharma as their captain in the forthcoming season of the T20 league. Rohit Sharma was listed as the captain in the list of players retained by the franchise but after getting Hardik in an all-cash deal, the franchise has now made it clear that the star all-rounder would be their leader in the future. Rohit had led MI to each of their five IPL titles so far after taking over as their skipper midway through the IPL 2013 season.

"It is part of legacy building and staying true to the MI philosophy of being future-ready. It is in keeping with this philosophy that Hardik Pandya will assume captaincy of Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2024 season," MI's global head of performance Mahela Jayawardene said in a statement.

Hardik Pandya announced as captain for the IPL 2024 season.

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— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) December 15, 2023

"We express our gratitude to Rohit Sharma for his exceptional leadership; his tenure as the captain of the Mumbai Indians since 2013 has been nothing short of extraordinary. His leadership has not only brought unparalleled success to the team but has also solidified his place as one of the finest captains in the history of the IPL. Under his guidance, MI became one of the most successful and loved teams ever. We will look forward to his guidance and experience on and off the field to further strengthen MI," he added.

Pandya was not only someone who has been with the MI franchise before but also has rich captaincy experience, having led Gujarat Titans to a title in IPL 2022 before leading them to the summit clash and falling short in IPL 2023. The decision marks a glorious end of a leadership chapter in MI which gave the Blue and the Golds five titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020 with Rohit's name perhaps etched in golden letters in the history of the franchise.