Harbhajan Singh Criticizes MI’s Decision to Bring Hardik Pandya as Captain

Former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh commented on the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) decision to bring back all-rounder Hardik Pandya as captain, stating that it backfired and the team failed to play cohesively as a unit.

The current Indian Premier League (IPL) season has been one to forget for the five-time champions MI. They brought Pandya back after a successful two-year stint with Gujarat Titans (GT), where he led them to a title in their debut season in 2022.

However, replacing Rohit Sharma as captain led to massive social media backlash for both the all-rounder and the franchise. Pandya was booed in stadiums across India during matches, and the team finished at the bottom of the points table with four wins, 10 losses, and eight points. Despite his previous contributions to MI’s success from 2015-21, Pandya struggled to deliver match-winning performances this season.

Harbhajan Singh shared his thoughts on MI’s decision, saying it backfired and led to a lack of unity within the team. He suggested that this decision could have been postponed by a year but also clarified that Hardik was not at fault.

“MI has a big team. I have played for it. The management is great and runs the team well. But this decision has backfired. Maybe the thinking was to look for the future. It seems that it did not sit well with the team as they did not look united. It was bound to happen. It pains me to see such a big team, an old team of mine face such poor results. Maybe the timing of the decision was not right. It could have been better had this decision been taken a year later. It is not Hardik’s fault; he was captaining really well in GT. The duty of the senior players is to keep players united no matter who is the captain. Captains come and go. They did not play like a team,” Harbhajan told ANI.

In 14 matches, Pandya scored 216 runs at an average of 18.00 and a strike rate of 143.04, with a top score of 46. He also took 11 wickets at an average of 35.18 and an economy rate of 10.75.

However, fans expect Pandya to turn things around when he dons the blue jersey for India in the ICC T20 World Cup starting in the West Indies and USA from June 1 onwards. Given his fine record in white-ball international cricket and his ability to perform under pressure, vice-captain Pandya will be a crucial part of Team India’s campaign, led by Rohit Sharma.