“I don’t feel it would be awkward…”
There were different ways in which Hardik Pandya was quizzed about taking over Mumbai Indians captaincy from Rohit Sharma, who is currently India skipper across formats, but the all-rounder said it is not an “awkward” situation. The 30-year-old was addressing the media in Mumbai Indians colours after five years and insisted that he wants to carry forward what the side had achieved under Rohit’s leadership.
“Rohit Sharma is captain of Indian team, which helps me, what this team has achieved, was achieved under his belt – I just carry forward, I played whole career under him and I know, he will always have his hand on my shoulder. I don’t feel it would be awkward or different,” says Hardik in a media interaction in Mumbai on Monday.
After being away from the set-up for two years, the duration he led Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the all-rounder is now back in MI colours and will also have the captain’s armband. For him, the homecoming is “surreal” and he can’t wait to play in MI colours at the Wankhede.
The last two years have seen Hardik’s rise both as a player and captain as GT emerged champions in their debut season and finished runners-up in the previous edition. There were plenty of instances where he led Indian cricket team during that period too and his captaincy stocks remained on a bull run.
The freak injury
He grew as an individual, as a leader, as a player but was constantly questioned on his fitness. The chatter got louder with his prolonged absence since the “freak” injury he sustained during the World Cup clash vs Bangladesh but it didn’t affect him. The all-rounder pushed himself to return to action for the World Cup semis/final but things didn’t go as per plans and he ended up aggravating what initially seemed like a regular twist of the ankle.
“It was a freak injury. When I twisted my ankle, it looked like a normal niggle. I went for a scan and went straight to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) next day to start the process. During that period, I pushed myself to return to the team but ended up aggravating the injury,” adds Hardik.
The all-rounder figured in 10-12 days that return was unlikely and he didn’t want to do injustice to the team by re-joining them as a “50% player”. There was a lot of damage to his ankle and it needed extensive rehab which has kept him out of action since the Bangladesh fixture in Pune. As CricketNext had reported earlier, both BCCI and the NCA chalked out a high-performance programme for the premier all-rounder and focussed on the important white-ball assignments in 2024.
“I regained fitness when Afghanistan series had started. So I was only away for three months. You can’t say five months because there was no (white-ball) cricket in the last two months. I worked on my fitness during that period and am completely fit,” says Hardik.
Returning to the old role
Not only is he completely fit and available but also ready to take on the role he had enjoyed performing for the franchise in the past. The role of an all-rounder who finishes games. He was more of an anchor for Gujarat Titans in last two editions but this season will see return of the big-hitting Hardik lower down the order.
“This IPL, I will play as an all-rounder and try to finish as many games as possible, enjoy the position I have always loved,” says Hardik.
Interestingly, the last time Hardik addressed the media in MI colours came after his finishing heroics in a fixture vs Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 15, 2019 at Wankhede. After picking a wicket, he smashed 37 off just 16 balls to help MI gun down 172 with an over to spare. A lot has happened in the IPL and Indian cricket in five years since that evening in Mumbai but MI would hope business as usual resumes for Hardik, the all-rounder who finishes games, when he takes field on March 24.
The opposition is his former team Gujarat Titans and the venue – Narendra Modi Stadium – is the ground which was his home for two years. But just like his return to MI colours, the different homecoming in Ahmedabad is unlikely to be an awkward experience.
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