The controversy regarding Hardik Pandya's appointment as the captain of Mumbai Indians has many facets. Ever since Hardik replaced Rohit Sharma as the new leader of the five-time champions, he has been facing severe criticism for the fans. Even during the matches, the India all-rounder goes through a lot of booing from the fans. Amid all this, MI are also having a mediocre outing in the ongoing season as they have won only four out of seven matches. Many former cricketers and experts have given their opinion regarding Hardik's treatment.
Recently, former India wicketkeeper-batter Robin Uthappa stated that all the senior players in MI had backed Rohit Sharma when he took over the captaincy from Ricky Ponting mid-season in 2013.
"Hardik Pandya is their discovery. They did it through their scouting methods. So they are essentially looking at a pure Mumbai Indians boy. When captaincy was given to Rohit Sharma it was taken from Ricky Ponting in the middle of the season. This is the same franchise. All the senior guys Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, and Ricky Ponting supported Rohit," Uthappa said on the TRS podcast.
Uthappa further stated that in the last three years, there had a been a dip in form of Rohit, both in terms of batting as well as his captaincy.
"In the last four years, statistically... I'm never gonna question the calibre and the gloriousness of Rohit Sharma the batter. But look at it from a franchise perspective. They won in 2020. They didn't win in the last three years. And the last three years, Rohit scored less than 300 runs (only once). So there's a lack of success as a batter, a lack of success as a captain. In just the IPL, cause everywhere else, he has scored runs," he said.
MI's recent victory came against Punjab Kings, where they registered a nine-run victory.
"Very good game of cricket. Everyone's nerve got tested. We did speak about before the game that the character will be checked in this game. Naturally you think you're ahead in the game. But we knew IPL has a tendency to produce these games," Hardik had said after victory over PBKS.