Hardik Pandya, the Indian all-rounder, might not be the captain of Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. It has been reported that Hardik Pandya, who captained MI for the first time this year, could get pipped by either of the former skippers Rohit Sharma or Suryakumar Yadav after a dismal IPL season earlier in the summer.
In the recently concluded IPL 2024, Mumbai Indians finished in 10th and bottom place on the points table under their new captain Hardik Pandya. Apart from the poor performances on the field, the all-rounder also copped severe criticism from the MI fans, who wanted Rohit Sharma, the five-time IPL winning captain to continue in the job.
Since then, Rohit Sharma led India to their first ICC title in 11 years, winning the T20 World Cup 2024 trophy alongside Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav. All these three players were critical to the national team’s success last month, which led to them raising their stature in the cricketing world.
Notably, in the absence of Rohit Sharma from the T20I format in the recent past, both Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav led the Indian cricket team to some positive results. After Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from the T20I format in the final press conference of the T20 World Cup 2024, the BCCI decided to appoint Suryakumar Yadav as the new captain of India instead of Hardik Pandya for the upcoming tour to Sri Lanka.
It has been reported that Rohit Sharma, who was ousted from captaincy role by Mumbai Indians, might not be looking to stay in the franchise, let alone return to leading the team once again, according to the report from PTI. But then, Suryakumar Yadav’s ascend to the Indian captaincy role might prompt the Mumbai Indians team management to give him the same role in the IPL 2025, removing Hardik Pandya from the picture altogether.
As of right now, the saga of the Mumbai Indians captaincy is far from over with three of the biggest stars of Indian cricket, potentially vying to lead them once again in the next season of the IPL.