Ace India and Gujarat Titans (GT) pacer Mohammad Shami gave his thoughts on Hardik Pandya leaving the GT franchise and moving to his home Mumbai Indians. He also spoke about new captain Shubman Gill.
MI traded Hardik from GT in an all-cash trade and a few weeks later, Shubman Gill was named captain of the side. Gill will be the youngest captain in IPL 2024. Notably, GT won the IPL in 2022 and played the final in IPL 2023 under Pandya’s captaincy.
Sharing his viewpoint on Hardik leaving GT for MI, Mohammad Shami says it doesn’t matter as players come and go and downplay any significance attached to the trade.
“See, it doesn't matter who is leaving. You have to see the team's balance. Hardik was there, he captained us well. He took us to the final in both editions and won us the title in 2022. But Gujarat hadn't signed Hardik for a lifetime. It's his decision. Shubman is made captain now, he will also gain experience. Someday, he might also leave. And it's a part of the game. Players come and players go,” Shami told News24.
Shubman Gill will be captaining a franchise in IPL for the first time and Shami said that Gill doesn’t need to worry too much, despite the responsibility of managing his own performance and other players as well.
“When you are captain, it's important to handle the responsibility while taking care of your performances. And that responsibility has been assigned to Shubman this time. He might have some load in his mind, but the players are more or less the same. So he doesn't need to worry. You need to manage players well and extract the best out of your players,” Shami added.
Here is the video:
