Double trouble

The proverbial dust from booing storm that swept Mumbairsquos Wankhede Stadium even before a ball was bowled in the Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals IPL 17 tie on April 1 has yet to settleChances are that it will reappear in todayrsquos match up between the hosts and Delhi Capitals at ChurchgateCan Hardik Pandya the recipient of those jeers duck it More importantly can the public humiliation of an IPLwinning captain Gujarat Titans won in 2022 stop These are the questions which cricket lovers want affirmation forThe disappointment of certain Mumbai Indians fans over Rohit Sharma being replaced as captain by a returning Pandya is understandable but their April 1 highlyaudible reactions cannot be condoned To them the team thinktankrsquos eye on future and younger leadership need notwithstanding is blatantly unfair on a multiformat successful player like RohitInternational cricket is filled with ironies and the shortest form of the game isnrsquot spared in this regard A telling one is the fact that though the IPL is 17 editions old and has provided a platform for countless Indian players to stamp their class on the international scene India have yet to win a T20 World Cup during this time The inaugural T20 World Cup called ICC World T20 then was clinched by Mahendra Singh Dhoni amp Co before the Lalit Modifuelled glitzy event was born in 2008The irony of Rohit who has lifted the IPL trophy on five occasions being replaced by Pandya who has captained a side to victory once sticks out sorely for diehard fans of the blue brigade Probably the bigger oddity is that Rohit the India captain across all formats is playing under Hardik who is currently not even a regular in the Indian team through his injury worriesThis is no triviabased irony which diehard fans can be humoured by Franchise cricket breeds fan loyalty especially for an enduring team like Mumbai IndiansThe team bosses have made some excellent decisions over the years by picking the right players and backing cricketers of promise The decision to make Rohit captain in 2013 was a master stroke in itself But the call to handover charge to Hardik towards the end of last year appeared more faulty after BCCI Secretary Jay Shah announced Rohit as captain of India for Junersquos T20 World Cup in FebruaryThe backlash has come like a tsunami and it will take some extraordinary moves to check the gushing of emotions However stung Rohit is hersquoll not only have to accept the situation and perform in the remainder of the tournament but hersquoll have to talk as wellmdashmake an elaborate statement which shouldnrsquot sound as lip service or face the media He wonrsquot be expected to say that Hardik canrsquot be blamed for switching over and getting the captaincy of his franchise but he surely can call for an end to the booing If Virat Kohli can do it during a World Cup 2019 for a then troubled rival Steven Smith post sandpapergate Rohit can for a teammate and spell this out loud to a larger audience even though a few videos have surfaced on social media of him urging the crowd not to get after PandyaAs a veteran cricketer Rohit has experienced highs and lows and will have to treat this woundHe can help his muchloved IPL team apart from MI he has only played for Deccan Chargers by taking this on the chin and greatly improving on his start 69 runs in three games to the tournamentSilence will not help this situation defuseUndoubtedly he and Hardik can coexist If at all there are differences between both these stars itrsquos not something that hasnrsquot happened in other teams The best of sides have had players with strained relationsTwentyfive years ago the late Shane Warne got one of the biggest shocks in his cricket career when his Australia captain Steve Waugh decided to go into the seriesdeciding April 37 1999 fourth Test against West Indies at Antigua without Warne Fellow leggie Stuart MacGill was picked instead of the greatest spinner of all time Waughrsquos Test victory objective was achieved The Sir Frank Worrell Trophy was retained through a 22 result but Australiarsquos two Ws didnrsquot send Christmas cards to each otherYet on June 20 1999 Warne was celebrating with Waugh on the Lordrsquos balcony after being the most successful bowler in the final where Australia claimed their second World Cup winIn Indiarsquos troubled home series of 198485 Kapil was dropped for playing a rash stroke in Indiarsquos loss to England in the Delhi Test Captain Sunil Gavaskar has insisted that a selector proposed to drop his star allrounder but the media was unstoppable Kapil not being in the team for the next Test at Kolkata provided the media more ink to pen Gavaskar v Kapil stories In a few months both these icons celebrated Indiarsquos 1985 World Championship of Cricket win in Melbourne England being one of the teams they beat en route tournament gloryIn the current controversy Hardik also has some work to do He has to bring out the humble side in him show that to the people who believe he is cocky while he goes about getting Mumbai Indiansrsquos IPL campaign back on trackItrsquos impractical to believe things will be silky smooth with Rohit and Pandya even after the awaited statement But who can rule out the strong possibility of them performing togetherlsquoNo one is bigger than the gamersquo is as cliched as lsquocricket is a game of glorious uncertaintiesrsquo That said itrsquos time to put the former into action despite it being an easier saidthandone caseSixThe number of T20 titles Rohit Sharma has led Mumbai Indians to victory in 5 IPLs and 1 Champions League crownlsquoWith reports about possible tussle in MI camp Rohit would want to leave MIrsquoFormer Mumbai Ranji Trophy captain Shishir Hattangadi cricket fan Merrill Rosario and sports equipment dealer Punit Gulati offer their take on the controversyShishir Hattangadi Merrill Rosario and Punit GulatiShould MI have waited to take a call on the captaincy after IPL 2024Hattangadi A franchise is an asset of the owners They take the call on who stays and leads They could have planned the leadership baton to be passed on with better communicationRosario The fact that MI got Hardik back from GT means they wanted a change in captaincy It does not make sense in getting a captain whorsquos been a winner and runnerup in the previous two seasons and not make him captainGulati I believe Rohit is surely a better captain than Hardik He is captain of the Indian team and has proved himself The way he was replaced as captain by the MI management was not in good tasteWould it have been fine for Hardik to play under Rohit after being the 2022 IPLwinning captainHattangadi Yes of course since Rohit is the India captain MI needed Hardik more for his allround skills than his leadershipRosario It all depends on Hardikrsquos attitude We have seen IPLwinning captains playing under different leadership be it MS Dhoni under JadejaRuturaj or Smith I feel Hardik would not have left GT being his home state too if he was not offered the captaincyGulati Hardik is a young player and if he does not have an attitude problem he should hand over the captaincy back to RohitWill Rohit Sharma play for MI next yearHattangadi It all depends on MIrsquos performance If they keep losing they may ask Rohit to take over next yearRosario With the possibility of a mega auction next year and all that is being reported about a possible tussle in the MI camp I feel that Rohit would want to leave MIGulati I am sure that Rohit will play two more seasons at least