The prodigal son’s return as a captain of Mumbai Indians, thus replacing five-time IPL-winning skipper Rohit Sharma, has not gone down well in world cricket. If the social-media outrage from MI fans in the lead-up to the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was not enough, Hardik Pandya faced the wrath of the spectators with verbal attacks at each of the two venues Mumbai played their matches so far. Hardik has seen it all from being booed, jeered at, and trolled with ‘Rohit-Rohit’ chants during the matches. And now, former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu, who came back to cricket commentary after ages for IPL 2024, shared a striking post on X, previously known as Twitter, on the Mumbai Indians situation.
On Saturday, Sidhu posted a video featuring glimpses of Rohit’s campaign with Mumbai so far this season as he hailed the incumbent India captain and said that MI are lucky to have a player of his stature. In a nutshell, he summed up his admiration for Rohit’s game in his trademark poetic style.
However, it was his caption to the video that caught the attention. Making an attempt to describe the Mumbai Indians situation at present, he wrote on X: “Even if the elephant is covered in dust, it will still be respected. Even tying the dog with a gold chain does not make one respectable.”
This is not the first time that Sidhu has reacted to Mumbai Indians’ Hardik-Rohit situation. Before the start of Mumbai’s campaign in IPL 2024 last week against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad, Sidhu, speaking to Star Sports, had reacted to MI’s debatable call to name Hardik as the captain, saying that Rohit’s stature will not fall playing under the all-rounder.
“I have played in an Indian team where five captains used to pay together. Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Ravi Shastri. Pick up a brick and you will find a captain both above and below it. There were no issues because they were playing for their nation. The motivation was to play for your country. So, playing under Hardik does not make Rohit smaller,” Sidhu had said.
Mumbai had named Hardik as their new captain back in December last year, just days after he was traded from Gujarat Titans, who he spent two successful seasons as a captain. Under Hardik, the Titans lifted the IPL title in 2022 and reached the final in the following year.
The decision subsequently ended Rohit’s 11-year tenure as a captain. Midway through the 2013 season, the India opener was named the MI skipper, taking over the reins from Ricky Ponting. He then led the franchise to five IPL title wins over the next decade.
MI have so far made a forgettable start to IPL 2024 under Hardik, losing both their first two matches. They will next face Rajasthan Royals on Monday at home.
