After the aftershocks of the finals in the ICC Men’s Cricket World 2023, despite the new looked Indian team doing extremely well in the series onshore as well as offshore India’s beloved captain Rohit Sharma continued making news. Rohit Sharma was instrumental in making India reach the finals of the most coveted World cup trophy happening on Indian shores after 12 years since 2011.Though India lost the final rather single handedly to the brilliance and might of the Australians, the emergence of selfless Rohit Sharma who bamboozled the opposition right at the top while batting was a treat to watch for Indian fans.
Since the end of the World Cup, the next thing which excited all the cricketing fans round the world was the IPL Auction 2024. Even before the actual Auction yet to be started within next few hours in Dubai, what grabbed the eyeballs was the trade window .
Many eye raising trades were done amongst franchises and Mumbai Indians(MI) the most successful IPL franchise provided the fans and viewers with the biggest breaking news of first getting back their old player Hardik Pandya in an all cash trade with Gujarat Titans(GT) and secondly to replace their captainship reigns from Rohit Sharma with whom they have won the maximum five IPL titles till date with Hardik Pandya.
This unanimous decision from Mumbai Indians (MI) though seemed visionary in creating future captain for themselves as well as team India in the near future for the shortest format however replacing the already established champion captain Rohit Sharma didn’t seemed to impressed the MI fans all round the globe.
The decision to replace Rohit hasn’t gone down well with many MI fans, as the franchise lost more than half a million followers on Instagram. Many have expressed their anger on social media, suggesting that skipper Rohit deserved a better farewell.
However former England world cup winning captain now turned cricket expert and commentator Eoin Morgan feels otherwise and has expressed his views on the same.
This was a tough decision- Eoin Morgan on MI’s change in leadership
With many ex players , current cricketers and cricket experts sharing their views about India’s biggest cricket carnival the IPL , former England world cup winning captain now turned cricket expert and commentator Eoin Morgan praised the Mumbai Indians (MI) for being practical and going ahead with the decision to replace long-time captain Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya at the helm ahead of IPL 2024
Speaking to TOI, Eoin Morgan explained how Mumbai Indians(MI) have always been a result-oriented franchise and feels they did the right thing by not letting emotions affect their decision.
“If you look at the franchise itself, they have had a very forward-thinking, logic-driven and future-proof driven style of strategy for a long time. A decision like this reinforces that the franchise always comes first,” said Eoin Morgan.
“You probably see this as being a tough decision that they’ve made hoping that the long-term benefits will see MI lifting another championships in the coming years. So, in a way, you’ve to admire the courage that it takes to make a decision like that because not every team would take that decision,” he added further.
Morgan further speaking also spoke openly about the newly introduced Impact Player Rule since IPL season 2023 and supported it. There has been a lot of talk about whether the Impact Player rule introduced in the IPL should be revoked. While some feel that it has stopped the development of all-rounders, Eoin Morgan reckons that it only eliminates the massive gulf between teams, making them more competitive.
“I’ve sat in many selection meetings over the years and having all-rounders is an absolute privilege. But when you don’t have them available, it really does hamper selection because you’re always struggling to balance the side either with an extra batter or an extra bow,” he stated.
“Having a rule in place creates an even field across the whole tournament and allows teams to be more tactically savvy when it comes to playing against tougher opposition who might be stacked full of all-rounders.” he added.
It will be interesting to see how many fresh faces get to live their dream in IPL 2024, with the auction all set to take place in Dubai on December 19.