Former South African cricketer and current head coach of the Mumbai Indians (MI), Mark Boucher, opened up about the decision to bring back Hardik Pandya to the team and replace him with Rohit Sharma as the captain ahead of the upcoming IPL 2024.
Boucher stressed that appointing Pandya as Mumbai Indians (MI) new captain was purely a cricketing decision. The MI coach described the strategic move as part of a transition phase and urged people in India to understand the decision from a cricketing perspective, not emotionally.
He has confidence that this decision will bring out the best in Rohit both as a person and a player, allowing him to enjoy the game and score valuable runs in the upcoming IPL 2024.
Mark Boucher said on Smash Sports podcast: “I think it was purely a cricketing decision. We saw the window period to get Hardik back as a player. For me it’s a transition phase. A lot of people don’t understand in India, people get quite emotional. But you know you take the emotions away from it. I think it’s just more of a cricketing decision that was made.”
He continued, “I do think it is going to bring the best out of Rohit as a person as a player. Just let him go out and enjoy and score some good runs. I mean one of the things I have spoken about is when you arrive at the IPL and he (Chris Morris) will be able to tell you as well that there’s a lot of stuff going on, there’s photoshoots and this and that and a lot of emphasis is not actually on the cricket. It’s more about the advertising and all that sort of stuff.”
Boucher further revealed that the captaincy was taking a toll on Rohit as he is the captain of Team India as well, and Hardik’s appointment will allow him to spend more time with his family.
The MI coach noted, “One thing I did pick up with Ro (Rohit) is that he is a fantastic guy. I mean he’s been captaining for ages and he’s done really well for Mumbai Indians. Now he also leads India as well. It is that he walks into a place and there’s just cameras in it and he’s so busy and he hasn’t had probably the best couple of seasons of late with the bat but he’s done well as a captain.”
He further explained, “And I just thought you know when we’re speaking with the whole Mumbai Indians group, we thought that maybe this is the opportunity for him to step as a player. We believe he got some great value to add and just go out there and actually enjoy it without the hype of being a captain. He is still going to captain India so that hype’s gonna be there.
But when he steps into the IPL maybe just taking that extra bit of pressure off him as a captain an maybe we get the best out of Rohit Sharma. We want to see him playing with a smile on his face, spending a bit of time with his beautiful family.”
Boucher signed off by hailing Hardik, “He is a Mumbai Indians boy. He went to other franchise, won the title in first year, ended up runner-up in his second year. So there’s obviously some very good leadership skills as well.”
(With Indian Express Inputs)
