Indian squad for T20 World Cup 2024, barring Virat Kohli, has landed in New York to prepare for their ICC event campaign from May 29 onwards.
India is yet to win another T20 World Cup since their title victory in the inaugural edition in 2007. India did reach the final in 2014 and semi-finals in 2016 and 2022, but a chance at the title eluded them.
Ahead of the tournament, the Indian players were involved in the IPL 2024 and much of the focus was on the Mumbai Indians franchise. MI management had removed Rohit Sharma as captain of the team before the tournament began and named Hardik Pandya as the new skipper.
Pandya was traded in from Gujarat Titans by MI in an all-cash deal and the way MI removed Rohit from helm didn’t sit well with the hardcore franchise fans. They made their displeasure known on social media.
And when the IPL 2024 began and MI started their matches, Hardik Pandya and the team were greeted with jeers and boos everywhere they played. They were even booed in their home of Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.
It didn’t help MI that, certain gestures from Hardik Pandya towards Rohit Sharma and social media posts from players like Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav on Rohit losing his captaincy reportedly sowed seeds of groupism in the unit.
The IPL 2024 went badly for MI, as they only won 4 matches out of 14 and were the first team to be eliminated. Captain Hardik Pandya didn’t fare well with the bat or the ball, while Rohit Sharma’s brilliant start to the tournament with the bat, ended up in a dud.
This led to experts and fans wondering if Rohit Sharma, who was named captain of the India team for the T20 World Cup, and Hardik Pandya, the vice-captain, would keep their differences aside for T20 World Cup.
In the same vein, the Kolkata Knight Riders social media unit decided to have some fun and posted a photo of Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah in the new Team India jersey for the T20 World Cup with a cheeky caption.
They posted the photo with the caption: “United in blue for India!”, signaling that the MI was a divided unit in the IPL 2024.
The Indian cricket fans on social media were quick to pick up the nuance in the post by KKR and shared hilarious reactions.
Here are some of them:
