NEW DELHI:
Hardik Pandya
is set to lead Mumbai Indians, replacing their five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy-winning captain
Rohit Sharma
in the 2024 season. Last November, Pandya made a return to Mumbai Indians, his former team, through a trade with Gujarat Titans (GT).
The star all-rounder spent two seasons - 2022 and 2023 - with Gujarat Titans, guiding them to their inaugural title win in their debut season (in 2022).
South Africa's legendary cricketer
AB de Villiers
, who played 184 IPL games in his career, scoring over 5000 runs at an average of 39.71, including three centuries and 40 fifties, feels Mumbai Indians seemed to have moved on from the 'new captaincy' debate.
De Villiers also feels that the star-studded Mumbai Indians' batting line up need to fire in unison in the upcoming tournament in the quest of the sixth IPL title.
"Incredibly successful team of the IPL. They have won five titles. Big controversy over the last few months was that Hardik Pandya coming in as new captain in place of Rohit Sharma. They seem to be happy though. They seemed to have moved on. It's great to have Hardik Pandya in blue at his home team Mumbai Indians. They will be starting against Gujarat Titans, how ironic is that," De Villiers said on his Youtube channel.
Mumbai Indians will face last year's runners-up Gujarat Titans on March 24 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
De Villiers, who played for Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in his 184-match IPL career, said Mumbai Indians will get a huge boost with the return of their star and premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who missed the IPL 2023 due to injury.
"Boom Boom Bumrah. I am looking forward to watching him play again. We missed him in the IPL. He is back in full flight. We watched him perform for India in the Test series (vs England). He was simply outstanding. When the heat is on, you want Jasprit Bumrah in your team. He comes through for you 9 out of 10 times. He gets the big wicket of the opposition. And the big reason why Mumbai Indians have been successful over the years and they want to play better than last year," De Villiers said.
"MI have a big point to prove. They have incredibly talented players. We need SKY in form again. We have Dewald Brevis. I hope he gets more game time as well. There is a lot of talent on the side. They just need to find rhythm, especially in the batting order. We need Rohit Sharma in form. Ishan Kishan up the order with SKY and Tilak Varma. Then they have Tim David and Dewald Brevis. That's a very powerful batting line up, if they are in form which they haven't been. so, let's wait and see. I expect them to do well," he said.
Mumbai Indians won their five titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020.
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