'Rohit Sharma's Stature At MI As Big As MS Dhoni At CSK' - Irfan Pathan On MI's Captaincy Change
Dhoni and Rohit have both won five titles for their IPL teams (Twitter)
Irfan Pathan expressed surprise at Mumbai Indians' (MI) decision to undergo a captaincy switch despite boasting of Rohit Sharma as one of the most successful leaders in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The former India pacer raised doubts on MI's infamous move of sacking an ageing Rohit and appointing premier allrounder Hardik Pandya as his captaincy successor for IPL 2024 after the latter's recent comeback to the franchise.
Under Rohit, the Mumbai franchise transformed from the also-rans of IPL cricket to one of the most dominant T20 teams in the world. The stalwart opening batter guided MI to titles in the 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020 editions of the IPL.
For Irfan, Rohit passed the leadership test even when MI couldn't surge towards another trophy last summer where despite carrying an inexperienced attack up his sleeves, the 36-year-old pushed them through to the playoffs stage.
Irfan Surprised At MI's Captaincy Switch
While the Mumbai franchise deemed Pandya's captaincy ascent a futuristic move designed to serve the team well for Rohit's imminent departure from the cricketing scene, Irfan emerged as one of the voices critical of the five-time champions about the move to oust their big-name leader from the helm of affairs.
The ex left-arm quick lauded Rohit's captaincy attributes and went to the extent of saying he is MI's equivalent of Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) legendary skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who also has won five IPL trophies for his team.
"Firstly, Rohit Sharma's stature at MI is as big as MS Dhoni's at CSK. He has virtually built this team as a captain with his blood and sweat. He has contributed a lot. He was involved a lot in team meetings," Irfan told Star Sports.
"He is an outstanding captain. I consider him a bowler's captain who has taken this team forward for many years. The team they had last year, how many people would have believed that they could qualify with that team, and he got them to qualify as a captain."
"The bowling was weak. Jofra Archer wasn't there, his form was also not good when he was there. He didn't get Bumrah's facilities. Considering that, it was a very good year as captain. So there was no question mark there," he added.
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