The Indian cricket world has been reeling under the team's loss in the final of the ODI World Cup, despite a near-perfect campaign going into the final. But now as a month has passed, it is increasingly seemingly like life does indeed move on, even as a bigger development in Indian cricket has taken over.
Hardik Pandya has ended Rohit Sharma's fairytale innings as Mumbai Indians' captain.
It did not take long after the Ahmedabad finale for all the attention to shift to the Pandya switch. When it did not happen on the appointed date, everyone scoffed at those who first propounded this theory. And when it did happen eventually there was a lot of talk about Pandya, his ‘betrayal’ etc.
It did not take long for stories to be floated about how upset Rohit Sharma was about the switch. Interestingly with India’s T20 World Cup captaincy also up in the air, everything was linked to each other. An ‘unofficial’ review meeting about the ODI World Cup debacle added a lot of fuel to fire.
We have still not been told that Pandya is India’s T20I captain and not Sharma. Since the last T20 World Cup debacle, Sharma and Virat Kohli have stayed away from the format, letting Pandya lead, but we will never be told if that is the real deal.
Now riding the wave of the emotional journey in the ODI World Cup, the powers that be feel compelled to give one more chance to Sharma. Pandya’s ongoing injury enforced break resulted in further speculation.
Just what was going on, no one knows officially. We only know stories that have been attributed to sources with several theories being propounded from time to time.
It seemed like we would have had to wait for the next part of this ongoing saga till February or even March 2024. But then right after India levelled a three-match T20I series against host South Africa, the Mumbai Indians dropped another bomb, again on social media.
This time declaring that Pandya will be their captain for the 2024 season. There was no statement from Sharma in the official press release naming Pandya as the new leader. The statement just included quotes from Mahela Jayawardene, the global head of performance at Mumbai Indians.
Rest was up to skilful reporters to pick up clues and write up stories from them. The story dropped the day Sharma and the rest of the lot left for South Africa for the Test matches. Sharma will be leading India in the two-Test series. The timing of the Mumbai Indians announcement and the resultant fury on social media has left many confused.
There are reports that Mumbai Indians have lost a significant fan base on social media since the announcement. It has not been dressed up as a sacking by Mumbai, but it is very evident that Sharma has been sacked. It is unlikely that this announcement by Mumbai would have come through if India had won the ODI World Cup. Now with the trophy slipping away it became easy for Mumbai to make public what appears to have been decided much earlier.
There was no real compulsion to make the announcement right now. But with the auction scheduled for 19 December in Dubai, it became evident that Mumbai had to be seen as making some statement.
For Sharma though this appears to be the beginning of the end in all white ball cricket. With India not scheduled to play any ODI cricket post the South Africa till July 2024, it is unlikely that Sharma will be seen in that format for a while. Even in T20Is, Sharma has not been for 12 months. There have been talks about both Sharma and Kohli making it to the T20 World Cup.
But with Sharma losing the Mumbai Indians captaincy, his T20 career is currently skating on thin ice. It is now certain that even if Sharma and Kohli make it to the T20 World Cup, Pandya will lead India at the event in 2024. Sharma’s stature in Indian cricket will remain undiminished, but the way the whole operation was carried out will surely leave a bitter taste.
With stakes being so high, neither Sharma nor Pandya will ever make a statement officially. We will only have to depend on gossip mongers to provide us with more masala.
For Pandya though the appointment as Mumbai Indians captain is the biggest investment of faith that anyone has made in him since he started his career. Pandya plays sparingly, ensuring that he stays fit from March to May and is partially available at times for an ICC white ball tournament. During the rest of the year Pandya is resting and recuperating. Yet for someone to invest so much in him means there is something in him that stands out.
Pandya now will have the onerous task of carrying the Mumbai dressing room along with him and ensuring that he is managing the frayed relations with Sharma & Co. Remember it is not just the IPL in 2024, it is also about the T20 World Cup and beyond.
The dust has still not settled on the whole issue and there is more drama this time from Suryakumar Yadav who has posted a cryptic tweet and Instagram story. All this makes you wonder if all is well in the Mumbai Indians dressing room and if that will have an impact on the Indian dressing room. Remember all these key characters do not come together as one group till March end when the IPL begins, till then they will all be in different time zones.
It is now certain that the new dynamic in the Mumbai dressing room will be the biggest talking point in the coming months. As the most successful IPL captain, Sharma deserved a lot more respect and a better sendoff than this. Chennai Super Kings did a proper handover from Mahendra Singh Dhoni to Ravindra Jadeja only for it to be reversed mid-way.
Pandya therefore has huge boots to fill with a massive legacy. Now it is therefore Pandya’s turn to decide on whether he will lead the chorus for Duniya Hila Denge Hum or Saari Duniya Jala Denge…if you get the drift.
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