Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh, who played for a decade for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, said that the team didn’t play as a unit and also the decision to name Hardik Pandya captain were the reasons for their failure in IPL 2024.
MI finished last on the IPL 2024 points table with just 4 wins in 14 games. This was the second time in three years that MI failed to qualify for the playoffs and also finished in 10th spot.
Harbhajan Singh, while talking about the reasons why MI failed in this IPL, said that the management’s decision to replace Rohit Sharma as captain with Hardik Pandya backfired hugely. However, the all-rounder and the team faced intense reactions on social media when Rohit Sharma was replaced as captain.
Pandya was jeered in stadiums around India during their matches. Pandya, who was instrumental in the team's success from 2015 to 21, was unable to produce game-winning efforts.
Harbhajan Singh said it was a mistake that caused the team to become disunified and added that this decision could’ve been made a year later as well.
"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. Maybe the timing of the decision was not right. It could have been better had this decision been taken a year later. It is not Hardik's fault, he was captaining really well in GT. The senior players must keep players united no matter who is the captain. Captains come and go. They did not play like a team," said Harbhajan to ANI.
As a performer also Pandya failed to lead from the front, as he made 216 runs at an average of 18.00 and a strike rate of 143.04 in 14 games and picked 11 wickets at a dismal 35.18 average and a 10.75 economy rate.
