Watch: Rohit Sharma Advising Mumbai Indians Captain Hardik Pandya Delights Fans

Five-time champions Mumbai Indians started their IPL 2024 campaign with a close defeat to Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Sunday night. MI were in a strong position chasing 169 but the dismissal of senior batter and opener Rohit Sharma triggered a slide and the team eventually fell short of the target by seven runs.

It was also the first game that MI played after allrounder Hardik Pandya was officially named as their new captain on a full-time basis kickstarting a new era after the hugely successfull rein of Rohit under whose guidance the franchise won all their five IPL titles.

This is the third season in a row that Pandya is leading an IPL franchise having proven his leadership credentials by building a solid resume at GT.

After being released by MI ahead of IPL 2022 mega auctions, Pandya headed to GT and was named as their captain. In their first ever IPL season, GT became champions and finished runners-up in the following year.

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With MI enduring a couple of poor seasons before qualifying for the playoffs last year, the franchise traded Pandya from GT and appointed him as their captain.

Despite his success as captain, Pandya isn’t shying away from seeking senior pro Rohit’s advice as was evident during their IPL 2024 opener against GT in Ahmedabad.

A clip has of the two stalwarts has been shared on social media in which Rohit and Pandya can be seen having a discussion on the field during GT innings.

“Obviously we back ourselves to chase those 42 runs (in the last five overs) but it was one of those days where we see the score quite less in those last five overs, we lost a bit of momentum there,” Pandya said at the post-match presentation.

Narendra Modi Stadium may no longer his home venue in IPL but Pandya enjoyed the atmosphere.

“It feels good to be back because this is one stadium where you can enjoy and feel the atmosphere quite lively and obviously the crowd was full and they got a good game as well,” he said.