NEW DELHI: Looking for an emoji to express awkwardness? A look at the faces of Mumbai Indians coach Mark Boucher and captain
Hardik Pandya
at the MI pre-IPL season press conference in Mumbai on Monday should end that search. Their expressions when asked about captaincy changing hands from
Rohit Sharma
to Hardik and the reasons for it said everything.
HOW TO WATCH IPL IN USA
Hardik, as a leader, proved doubters wrong when he captained Gujarat Titans to victory in their inaugural season in 2022 and took them to the final next season.
He comes back to his alma mater as an achiever. But it is his leadership qualities that will be tested.
Cryptic posts on social media by senior MI players after learning about Hardik’s trade and elevation to the captaincy have created employment opportunities for those wanting a career in reading between the lines.
Apart from five IPL trophies, Rohit has hand-held young players, giving them chances to show their wares. The younger players rallied around him both at MI and in the Indian team set-up. How the side reacts to a change in leadership styles after 10 years will be interesting to see.
If Hardik can convince Rohit to be the 2019 version of himself, rather than the slog-and-swipe batter, with nine 50s since 2019, at a below-par strike-rate and an embarrassing average, it will be a tick for him.
The scanners will be on
Pat Cummins
too. With Sunrisers Hyderabad breaking the bank (Rs 20.5 cr) to net the World Cup and World Test Championship-winning Aussie skipper, results are non-negotiable. SRH function like those trigger-happy European football clubs. They have had three different captains and coaches in the last three years and after the circus surrounding the departure of a successful captain in David Warner, they have consistently hugged the bottom half of the table.
This year too they have replaced Aiden Markram, a two-time winning skipper of their franchise in the SAT20 with Sunrisers Eastern Cape. Cummins’ first assignment upon landing is nursing a bruised ego there. How much does he have left in the tank to go through another high-pressure gig?
Between the last IPL to now, Cummins has bowled 394.4 overs in Tests, 107.3 overs in ODIs and seven overs in T20Is. That’s 3055 balls! He has endured a draining Ashes campaign and tasted the high of winning two global trophies. When he hasn’t bowled, he has batted under pressure to rescue Australia.
Can he summon the mental reserves to mentor someone like Umran Malik? Can he tell Marco Jansen, Markram, Wanindu Hasaranga and Glenn Phillips, “Sorry, we can play one of you as me, Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen will play most games.” Cummins’ IPL record is not great either. In 42 matches, he has an economy of 8.54. If results don’t come, Cummins needs to only ask his Aussie teammate Warner and exAussie coaches Tom Moody and Trevor Bayliss what humiliation feels like.
Brazilian author Paulo Coelho writes in The Alchemist, “It’s called the principle of favourability, beginner’s luck. Because life wants to achieve your destiny.”
From a young age,
Shubman Gill
was destined to achieve special things. Every coach, talent spotter, selector had an eye out for him. Hence, he was fast-tracked after being in a victorious 2018 Under-19 World Cup team.
Now, as the first-time skipper of Gujarat Titans, Gill, who has no prior captaincy experience, will be hoping for some of that beginner’s luck. He will first need to make senior pros like David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha, and Rashid Khan comfortable to play under him.
Then, he needs to find three players, two to replace Pandya, who batted at four and bowled briskly with the new ball, and Mohammed Shami, who grabbed 28 wickets last season, but is out injured? Hello, Umesh Yadav. If he can reproduce last year’s form (890 runs, average 57.33, three hundreds, four fifties at a strike-rate of 157.80) respect will come knocking. For tactics, he has Nehra ji on the boundary.
English (US) ·