Chennai Super Kings (CSK) CEO Kasi Viswanathan has categorically denied that the franchise ever approached Mumbai Indians for a trade for batter Rohit Sharma during the IPL 2024 auction. The event was held in Dubai on December 19, 2023.
Rohit Sharma was recently removed as captain by Mumbai Indians, and instead, Hardik Pandya was given the reins of the team for IPL 2024. This led to lots of anger in Mi fandom and even players like Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah posted cryptic messages on social media.
With stories of Rohit Sharma being sold to other teams, there was discussion about discontent among key players. However, the Mumbai Indians have denied these allegations and denied that franchises such as the Chennai Super Kings approached them about a deal.
Kasi Viswanathan, the CEO of Chennai Super Kings, also denied such talks and said that CSK does not subscribe to the practice of trading players and lacks suitable assets for a trade with the five-time IPL champions.
“We don’t trade players as a principle and we also don’t have players to trade with Mumbai Indians. We have not approached them and we don’t intend to either,” the CSK CEO told Cricbuzz on the sidelines of the IPL 2024 auction.
Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher downplayed allegations of intra-team strife. Boucher acknowledged that there were emotions involved in the choice, but added that the phase was "purely transitional."
Boucher further stated that all pertinent meetings had taken place with specific team members and group leadership and that the Mumbai Indians are going forward. He also praised Rohit's contribution as a team leader.
