Former Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar said that Mumbai Indians (MI) had the team’s future in mind and that’s why they appointed Hardik Pandya as their new captain, replacing Rohit Sharma. However, MI faced a lot of backlash from fans after they removed Rohit, who had led them to five IPL titles, from the captaincy as well. However, Gavaskar feels looking at Rohit’s age and Hardik’s capability, it was a good decision from them as well.

Here’s what Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports: “Look they have always thought about the future of the franchise. Rohit Sharma is already 36 years old and also faces immense pressure being the captain of India for all three formats. They have tried to reduce some of that burden and give that responsibility on the young shoulders of Hardik Pandya.”

However, Hardik tasted a lot of success with the Gujarat Titans (GT), leading them to back-to-back finals in their two seasons and winning the IPL in 2022 as well. Sunil Gavaskar also said that with no pressure of captaincy, Rohit Sharma can bat freely at the top of the order for MI. If he can get Mumbai off to quickfire starts, Gavaskar feels they have the batting line-up to post massive totals.

“Handing Hardik the captaincy is only going to benefit the Mumbai Indians. They have now given the freedom to Rohit to go and express himself freely at the top of the order. Hardik can then come at No.3 or No.5 and help them post totals of 200-plus consistently,” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.