Michael Clarke urges Rohit Sharma to give a public statement backing Hardik Pandya
The two time World Cup winner Michael Clark has expressed his fears of a divide in the relationship of Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya after the Mumbai Indians captaincy fiasco. The five-time title winners’ strategy of introducing a smooth transition of leadership from Rohit Sharma to Hardik Pandya went down the drain as a huge wave of criticism struck the Indian all-rounder for his ambiguous captaincy decisions.
Mumbai Indians currently stands as the only team in IPL 2024 that has failed to register a win and remains on the last position of the points table with a negative net run rate of 1.423. Pandya has repeatedly faced backlash at several public platforms, after the joint most successful team lost all the three matches in the tournament.
Also Read: ‘Things will change:’ Former India player backs Hardik Pandya after MI’s poor start in IPL 2024
The Australian cricketer opined that Rohit Sharma possesses the power to put an end to the fan rivalry amongst the Indian cricketers and restore the public’s faith in Hardik Pandya. Clarke urged the former MI captain to back Pandya as the new leader of the team in public, to stop the hostility towards the Indian all-rounder.
While talking to ESPN, Michael Clarke said, “I feel it’s probably at a stage that if it keeps going, then Rohit Sharma has to come out and say something publicly and really support Hardik. You don’t like seeing that. I know it happens in sports but home fans booing is not ok. It’s not like Hardik made the decision to be captain. Mumbai Indians have made that decision; they brought him back and gave him the captaincy.”
Clarke emphasized that Mumbai Indians require the services of Rohit Sharma at the top to succeed in the tournament, and hoped Pandya could get behind the poor treatment by the fans and get the situation under control.
“I just hope he [Rohit] and Hardik are fine. Again, they have always gotten on pretty well. Rohit is a super guy and a great player so that’s the other thing. You probably need Rohit Sharma making runs as well for Mumbai to have the success that they’ve always had. But yeah, let’s get some wins if you’re Mumbai Indians. Hardik has got to keep playing well and hopefully the fans get behind the team and Hardik as captain.”
