Mumbai Indians captain, Hardik Pandya joined the team ahead of IPL 2024, and he set up a mandir inside the dressing room on his arrival. Head coach Mark Boucher also joined in on a sacred ritual on Monday, March 11.
Hardik Pandya joined the Mumbai Indians camp on Monday, March 11 (Courtesy: Screengrab from MI/X)
In Short
- Hardik Pandya joined Mumbai Indians ahead of IPL 2024
- Hardik Pandya setup a mandir inside MI’s dressing room
- Hardik replaced Rohit Sharma as the captain of the franchise
Mumbai Indians captain, Hardik Pandya joined the franchise ahead of IPL 2024 for their pre-season camp. Pandya marked his homecoming on a sacred note as he set up a mandir inside the team’s dressing room on his arrival.
Mumbai Indians posted a special video of their captain’s homecoming on their social media handle. Hardik was wearing a Mumbai Indians training jersey as he made his entry in style alongside his kitbags. The special part about the video was Hardik setting up a mandir inside the team’s dressing room. Mumbai Indians head coach, Mark Boucher also took part in the holy ritual as he smashed the coconut on the floor. The ritual is considered really holy in the Indian culture, aimed at bringing good luck and new beginnings. Warm hugs were shared between the coaching staff and the skipper. The social media of the franchise captioned the post, “Let’s get started.”
TRENDING TOPICS:
Hardik replaced Rohit Sharma as the captain of the 5-time champions in December 2023. The franchise announced the decision just 4 days before the IPL 2024 mini-auction on 15 December. In a historic trade, Hardik returned to the Mumbai Indians from the Gujarat Titans.
Hardik, who wasn’t retained by Mumbai Indians ahead of the IPL 2022 auction, moved to Gujarat Titans and led them in their first two seasons in the IPL.
He led the team to a title win in their maiden season in IPL 2022 and the franchise finished as the runners-up in the IPL 2023 after losing to the Chennai Super Kings in the final.
Mumbai Indians will be hoping for the star all-rounder to prove his captaincy credentials at his old home as well. Hardik had been out of competitive cricket after he suffered an ankle injury during the ODI World Cup 2023 match between India and Bangladesh on October 19. Ever since the all-rounder has been running hard yards to make his high-profile comeback. Hardik played the DY Patil T20 tournament to warm-up for IPL 2024 as he proved his match fitness in the local tourney.
Mumbai Indians will be playing their first match of the tournament against the Shubman Gill-led Gujarat Giants on March 24, Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium,
Following a successful two-year stint at Gujarat Titans — where Hardik Pandya took the side to 2 finals and winning one of them in 2022 — the all-rounder returned to Mumbai Indians in a high-profile trade last year. Hardik replaces a highly-successful Rohit Sharma as leader at MI.