IPL 2024: As per Boucher, the franchise wanted to relieve Rohit of the burden of captaincy and enjoy his batting.
Mumbai: Hardik Pandya replacing Rohit Sharma as Mumbai Indians captain ahead of the IPL Retention created a massive stir. Back then, not much was known as to why Rohit was removed as captain despite his good record for MI. But now, a couple of months ahead of the IPL season, MI coach Mark Boucher has revealed the reason for the mega move. As per Boucher, the franchise wanted to relieve Rohit of the burden of captaincy and enjoy his batting. Boucher and the team believes that would bring the best out of him.
Calling it a ‘cricketing’ decision, Boucher admits that he understands that people have got emotional over it and hence he requests fans to think logically.
“I think it was purely a cricketing decision. We saw the window period to get Hardik back as a player. For me it’s a transition phase. A lot of people don’t understand in India, people get quite emotional But you know you take the emotions away from it. I think it’s just more of a cricketing decision that was made and I do think it is going to bring the best out of Rohit as a person as a player. Just let him go out and enjoy and score some good runs,” Mark Boucher says on Smash Sports podcast.
Explaining what he means, Boucher cites the example of Chris Morris. “I mean one of the things I have spoken about is when you arrive at the IPL and he (Chris Morris) will be able to tell you as well that there’s a lot of stuff going on, there’s photoshoots and this and that and a lot of emphasis is not actually on the cricket. It’s more about the advertising and all that sort of stuff,” says Boucher.