MI Captaincy Row: 'You’ve To Admire The Courage', Eoin Morgan On Management's Decision To Appoint Hardik Pandya As Skipper

Former England skipper Eoin Morgan has lauded Mumbai Indians for their brave call to replace Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as skipper ahead of IPL 2024. Morgan observed that forward-thinking and logic drives the Mumbai Indians and shows that they put the franchise first ahead of their players.

Despite Rohit leading Mumbai Indians to five titles since taking over the captaincy in 2013, the management made the massive call of bringing in Pandya as captain. Pandya notably started his career with the Mumbai Indians before moving on to the Gujarat Titans, but was roped in by the former in an all-cash deal.

Morgan, who captained the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL, admits it might have been a tough decision and hopes to see Mumbai Indians reap benefits.

"If you look at the franchise itself, they have had a very forward-thinking, logic-driven and future-proof driven style of strategy for a long time. A decision like this reinforces that the franchise always comes first. You probably see this as being a tough decision that they’ve made hoping that the long-term benefits will see MI lifting another championships in the coming years. So, in a way, you’ve to admire the courage that it takes to make a decision like that because not every team would take that decision," the Irishman told TOI.

Fans express outrage as Mumbai Indians replace Rohit Sharma as captain:

Meanwhile, the move to replace Rohit as captain did not go down well with the fans, given the success the swashbuckling opener had brought to the side. The franchise's followers on social media tumbled by over 4 lakh within an hour of the announcement.

Clips of a fan burning Mumbai Indians' jersey and cap also went viral. A report from The Indian Express later claimed that Pandya agreed to return to Mumbai Indians only on the promise that he would be given Mumbai Indians' captaincy.