As per sources, Pandya had set a condition of returning to Mumbai Indians only if he is offered the captaincy role.
On Friday, the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise announced India star-all rounder Hardik Pandya as the new captain for the upcoming IPL 2024. With Pandya’s new responsibility as a captain, he has also brought an end to Rohit Sharma’s ten-year stint as an MI skipper who led the team to record five IPL triumphs (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020).
However, Pandya's announcement as MI captain was not well received by Rohit Sharma fans as they started slamming the franchise on X (formerly known as Twitter) with trends of ‘ShameOnMI.’ Now, fans' dissatisfaction with MI’s decision has impacted the five-time IPL winners so much that it has led to a drop of five lakh followers on their official Instagram account.
While it is uncertain whether Rohit voluntarily stepped down as captain or not, the consequence of MI’s decision has witnessed a drop from 13.2 million to 12.7 million followers on Instagram.
India’s T20I skipper, Suryakumar Yadav also shared a cryptic story of a broken heart emoji after the sudden removal of Rohit from captaincy.
As per sources, Pandya had set a condition of returning to Mumbai Indians only if he is offered the captaincy role.
Last month, Pandya who was initially retained by Gujarat Titans ahead of the IPL Auction 2024 was traded to Mumbai Indians. The 30-year-old’s return to MI who has been part of four IPL victories (2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020) was itself a big celebration for the fans.
Meanwhile, the IPL Auction 2024 will take place on 19 December 2023 at Dubai’s grand venue, Coac-Cola Arena. Ten franchises will participate in the auction. It is expected that this auction will see franchises engage in a bidding war that may lead to breaking the bank for the inclusion of talented players.
As the auction is taking place a month after the World Cup 2023 ended, franchises will probably be looking forward to seize the star performers of the tournament. Players like Travis Head, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Starc, etc are expected to trigger some record-breaking bids.
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 "Mumbai Indians lose five lakh followers after Hardik Pandya replaces Rohit Sharma as captain")
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