Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher opened up on the decision to replace Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as the captain of the most successful IPL team. He detailed that it was purely a cricketing decision as the team embarked on a transition phase, adding that the 5-time champions are keen on getting the best out of Rohit, the batter.

In a historic trade, Hardik returned to Mumbai Indians after captaining Gujarat Titans for 2 years in November 2023. Just 4 days ahead of the IPL 2024 mini auction, he was named as the captain of the 5-time IPL title winning team. The move received a lot of criticism as the franchise lost 400,000 followers within an hour of the announcement,. A large section of the fans were upset as it marked the end of an era of Rohit’s decade-long captaincy.

“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 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,” Mark Boucher said on Smash Sports podcast.

“I mean one of the things I have spoken about is when you arrive at the IPL and he (Chris Morris) will be able to tell you as well that there’s a lot of stuff going on, there are photoshoots and this and that and a lot of emphasis is not actually on the cricket. It’s more about the advertising and all that sort of stuff,” Boucher said.

HOW ROHIT WILL BENEFIT FROM HARDIK MOVE

Rohit made his captaincy debut for Mumbai Indians in 2013 and in his 10-year tenure, he led the team to 5 IPL title wins. Boucher lauded the 35-year-old for his leadership skills but also admitted that the opener has not scored runs in the last few IPL seasons. He reckoned that being taken off the burden of captaincy would help him play more freely.

Rohit Sharma has struggled to be consistent for Mumbai Indians in the last few IPL seasons. He managed 332 runs in 16 matches in 2023, while he aggregated just 268 in 14 matches at an average of less than 20 in 2022.

“One thing I did pick up with Ro (Rohit) is that he is a fantastic guy. I mean he’s been captaining for ages, and he’s done really well for Mumbai Indians. Now he also leads India as well. It is that he walks into a place and there are 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 probably, but he’s done well as a captain.”

WERE MI RIGHT IN REPLACING ROHIT SHARMA?: EXPLAINED

“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 got some great value to add and just go out there and actually enjoy it without the hype of being a captain. He is still going to captain India so that hype’s going to be there but when he steps into the IPL, maybe just taking that extra bit of pressure off him as a captain, and maybe we will get the best out of Rohit Sharma,” Boucher said.

Boucher was appointed as the head coach of the franchise in 2022 and the team won their last IPL title in 2020.