NEW DELHI: In his first act as the new skipper of Mumbai Indians,
Hardik Pandya
on Monday set up a mandir in the dressing room alongside coach
Mark Boucher
ahead of the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League.
In a short and sweet ceremony, Hardik was seen garlanding a portrait of god while Boucher followed him with the breaking a coconut ritual.
The official handle of the franchise shared a video of the gesture from the skipper and the coach.
In the upcoming season, Hardik will be replacing a highly-successful Rohit Sharma -- who led the franchise to five titles -- as leader.
Following a successful two-year stint at Gujarat Titans -- where Hardik took the side to 2 finals and winning one of them in their inaugural season in 2022 -- the all-rounder returned to Mumbai in a high-profile trade in November last year.
Mumbai Indians are the most successful IPL franchise alongside Chennai Super Kings who both have won five titles each.
Rohit, who led India to the ODI World Cup final, had been captaining the franchise since 2013 when they lifted first of their five IPL trophies.
The other titles under Rohit's captaincy came in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020. Mumbai Indians had made it to the play-offs in IPL 2023.
(With inputs from PTI)
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