“Rohit (Sharma), (Kieron) Pollard, ‘God’ Sachin (Tendulkar) are names synonymous with Mumbai Indians. Hardik (Pandya) may be a good player, but there is no way he can match Ro’s (Rohit) captaincy standards. Most Paltans would agree! Plus, he has been absent from the field for months, I believe this decision (of appointing Pandya as captain) could be reconsidered by the MI management,” felt Adarsh Pawar, while adding that he dropped the idea of watching Mumbai play from stands only because ‘idol’ Rohit is no longer the skipper. 

Pawar’s brother Arjun, however, flatly disagreed. “Rohit is pretty good, we all agree. But one day he has to step out, and then what? One can’t be a captain forever. I think it’s time we should let our emotions take a backseat and think logically. It’s the same with national team captaincy. Hardik is under tremendous pressure right now, and we still have 13 more league matches to go. Losing the first match doesn’t mean we’ll lose it all,” he asserted.