'But this decision has backfired' - Harbhajan Singh dissects reason behind MI's lackluster performance in IPL 2024
"It seems that it did not sit well with the team as they did not look united," said Harbhajan.
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Mumbai Indians have had a lacklustre Indian Premier League 2024 outing. They finished at the bottom of the points table with only four wins in 14 games. The fans of the franchise and certain pundits have taken jibe at the MI Captain, Hardik Pandya for his less-than-ordinary leadership skills. Now, the former India Cricketer, Harbhajan Singh has come to Pandya’s defence amidst a heated environment.
Pandya was traded by Gujarat Titans to MI ahead of the IPL 2024 for a record-breaking deal. Subsequently, he was made the Mumbai captain downgrading Rohit Sharma. There was a huge uproar by fans and the boos continued to the ground. Harbhajan, who was part of the MI camp has showed faith in Pandya and the management to bounce back strongly in the next season.
"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,” said Harbhajan as quoted by NDTV Sports.
“Maybe the timing of the decision was not right. It could have been better had this decision been taken an 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," he added.
Focus will soon shift to T20 World Cup 2024
As IPL 2024 has reached its business end and playoffs beckon, the focus will quickly shift to ICC T20 World Cup 2024. The marquee event commences on June 2 and the Indian squad has been announced for the same. Rohit Sharma will lead the side and Pandya is named as the Vice-Captain. Few eyebrows were raised as the likes of Shubman Gill and Rinku Singh failed to make it to the 15-member squad.
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