Mumbai Indians are out of the playoff race after a poor campaign in the Indian Premier League 2024. The appointment of Hardik Pandya as captain back-fired and the franchise couldn’t recover from early setbacks. The management was slammed for sacking Rohit Sharma and replacing him with the Indian all-rounder. There were reports of issues between Rohit and Hardik.
However, former Australia captain Michael Clarke doesn’t think that Rohit and Hardik have turned against each other. He feels Hardik was named in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 squad because of Rohit. Clarke admitted that there could be some issues between the two but Rohit would’ve never picked Pandya in the team if the situation was bad.
“Rohit will have his arms around Hardik. He wants to win the T20 World Cup. The selection of the 15 players has Rohit’s stamp,” Clarke said on Around the Wicket podcast.
“India have selected a spin heavy attack and Hardik’s place in the team was approved by Rohit. Pandya would have been sitting out if Rohit was not in his favour,” he added.
Clarke had spoken about the rift between the Mumbai Indians players, with Hardik leading one camp while Rohit assuming the charge of the second. However, Rohit knows the importance of Hardik and what he brings to the table.
“While there were issues with the way Rohit was removed from captaincy by Mumbai Indians, but I don’t think that will impact Rohit and Hardik’s friendship or selection of Pandya.
“Hardik knows that he will have to perform with the bat and ball. Rohit will have no problem till the time he gets the best out of Pandya,” Michael Clarke concluded.
