Aakash Chopra on 'captaincy' conundrum of Hardik after the IPL trade to MI
Former opener of team India and cricket commentator Aakash Chopra said Hardik Pandya leaving the role of captain at the Gujarat Titans and moving to the Mumbai Indians, where he is unlikely to lead in the IPL 2024, wouldn't look good on the all-rounder's CV. Chopra highlighted Hardik Pandya's position as a potential successor to Rohit Sharma when it comes to T20I captaincy for India and wondered whether Hardik not leading MI would make for good optics.
Hardik, contrary to expectations, was retained by the Gujarat Titans on Sunday, while Rohit Sharma was retained as captain of the Mumbai Indians. However, soon after the retention deadline, Hardik's all-cash trade to the Mumbai Indians was completed. MI made money for the big-ticket signing by offloading Cameron Green, who is expected to be traded to the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Aakash Chopra said in his YouTube show on Monday that "the one thing that won't look good on Hardik's CV is that he left Mumbai because he wanted to become a captain. You went to Gujarat and then became the Indian captain. You will no longer be a franchise captain now, but you still want to be India's captain; it doesn't sit right.”