Rohit Sharma's wife Ritika Sajdeh has vented out her frustration at Mumbai Indians coach Mark Boucher's comments on why the Indian captain was removed as the skipper of the franchise in favour of Hardik Pandya.
The former South Africa keeper-batter explained that it was a cricketing decision to replace Rohit with Pandya as MI captain, and that fans must keep their emotions aside.
"I think it was purely a cricketing decision. We saw the window period to get Hardik back as a player. For me it’s a transition phase. A lot of people don’t understand in India, people get quite emotional But you know you take the emotions away from it.
"I think it’s just more of a cricketing decision that was made and I do think it is going to bring the best out of Rohit as a person as a player. Just let him go out and enjoy and score some good runs," Boucher told Smash Sports Podcast.
Ritika slams Boucher's justification
But Ritika, one of Rohit and MI's biggest supporters, is not buying Boucher's justification.
'So many things wrong with this," Sajdeh commented on the video.
The MI team management and franchise owners surprised the entire Indian cricketing fraternity when they announced that Pandya would lead the team from IPL 2024 after returning from Gujarat Titans.
Rohit replaced despite winning 5 IPL titles as MI captain
Pandya had left MI to join GT where he led the team to the IPL title in their maiden season in 2022 before finishing as the runner's-up in the following year.
The all-rounder then wanted to return to MI and captain the team, a clause which he included in his contract and the franchise agreed.
But the decision left everyone shocked and angry as Rohit had led MI to 5 IPL titles, a record which MS Dhoni later equalled after defeating Pandya's GT in the 2023 season-finale.
Ritika has since been publicly opposing the decision with her comments and posts on social media.
