Mumbai Indians on Tuesday confirmed that Rohit Sharma will remain with the franchise despite him being removed from captaincy ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
The news comes amid speculations of a rift in the MI team after Hardik Pandya replaced Rohit as the skipper for IPL 2024.
Renowned performance analyst Prasanna Agoram claimed before the IPL 2024 auction that Chennai Super Kings had their sights on trading the Hitman from MI but their hopes were dashed by MI official who said that "Rohit Sharma is not going anywhere from this team."
Prasanna also claimed that CSK were ready to trade ready to trade two of their frontline bowlers to trade in the likes of Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, according to reports.
MI face backlash after replacing Rohit
Rohit is the first captain to win six titles with a single franchise. He clinched five IPL titles as the leader before the record was equalled by Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni this year.
Therefore, it came as a rude shock for MI fans when they decided to name Pandya as the new captain after trading the all-rounder from Gujarat Titans for an all-cash deal worth ₹15 crore.
Pandya had a 'captaincy condition' in his return contract which the MI team management decided to honour, despite facing backlash from their fans and millions of Rohit's followers.
Rohit also agreed to step down after hearing about Pandya's condition before coming back to the franchise where he made his IPL debut in 2015.
