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Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya will lead Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2024. The franchise made Hardik the captain in place of Rohit Sharma. MI won five titles under Rohit's leadership. Hardik was a part of Mumbai from 2015 to 2021 but he joined Gujarat Giants (GT) ahead of IPL 2022. Under his leadership, GT won the trophy in its debut season and finished runners-up the following year. Hardik is very happy to return home to Mumbai. He has expressed this on many occasions. However, many people were surprised at making Hardik the MI captain in place of Rohit. At the same time, former South African batting great AB de Villiers says that Mumbai has now moved ahead of him in the debate.
De Villiers, who played 184 IPL matches, said on his YouTube channel, “Mumbai is an incredibly successful IPL team. Mumbai has won five trophies. The big controversy in the last few months was that Hardik Pandya was being made the captain in place of Rohit Sharma. However, they look happy. It seems that MI has now moved beyond that. It's great to have Hardik in the blue of his home team Mumbai Indians. They will start against Gujarat Titans, which is a bit strange. Let us tell you that Mumbai will start its campaign in the 17th season on March 24. Mumbai has to face Gujarat in the first match. This match will be held at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
De Villiers further said, “MI has a big point to prove.” They have talented players. We want to see Suryakumar Yadav back in form. Dewald Brewis is on the team. I hope Brevis gets more game time this time. There is a lot of talent in the team. He just needs to find some rhythm, especially in the batting order. It will be great for Rohit Sharma to be in form. Ishaan Kishan is above with Surya and Tilak Verma. Then they have Tim David and Brewis. If they are in form then this is a very powerful batting line-up. So, wait and see. I hope they will perform well.” MI had reached Qualifier-2 in IPL 2023.