The head coach of the Mumbai Indians explains the reason behind the replacement of Rohit Sharma as captain
The star all-rounder of team India, Hardik Pandya, made a return to his former side, the Mumbai Indians, last year and was also made the captain by the Mumbai-based franchise for the next edition of the Indian Premier League. Now Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher has explained the reason behind the move. The former South African cricketer stated that it was a purely cricketing decision.
Mark Boucher said, “I think it was purely a cricketing decision. We saw the window period to get Hardik back as a player. For me, it’s a transition phase. A lot of people don’t understand that in India, people get quite emotional, but you know you take the emotions away from it. I think it’s just more of a cricketing decision that was made, and I do think it is going to bring the best out of Rohit as a person and as a player. Just let him go out and enjoy and score some good runs.”
Boucher added, “One thing I did pick up with Ro is that he is a fantastic guy. I mean, he’s been captaining for ages, and he’s done really well for the Mumbai Indians. Now he also leads India as well. It is that he walks into a place and there’s just cameras in it, and he’s so busy, and he hasn’t had probably the best couple of seasons of late with the bat, but he’s done well as a captain.
“And I just thought, you know, when we’re speaking with the whole Mumbai Indians group, we thought that maybe this is the opportunity for him to step up as a player. We believe he has some great value to add and should just go out there and actually enjoy it without the hype of being a captain.
Boucher said, “He is still going to captain India, so that hype’s going to be there, but when he steps into the IPL, maybe just take that extra bit of pressure off him as a captain, and maybe we get the best out of Rohit Sharma. We want to see him playing with a smile on his face, spending a bit of time with his beautiful family.”