India and Rajasthan Royals off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has opened up on the debate surrounding Mumbai Indians decision to replace Rohit Sharma as captain. MI traded Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans as part of an all-cash deal before naming him as the skipper of the franchise ahead of IPL 2024 players auction. Rohit is the most successful captain in the history of IPL, alongside MS Dhoni, having led MI to five titles. MI’s decision to axe Rohit and take Hardik on board, however, faced severe backlash from the fans.
Ashwin while refraining himself from getting into the “right or wrong” debate, said that MI’s move shows how desperate they are to regain the IPL crown.
“The Hardik Pandya buy shows how hungry they are for number 6. Many people might have opinions about why it is right or wrong, or they might have taken it too easy. I am not going into that. This is a pride project. They play to win. And they’ve gone to that extent to buy a player. And you can say so many things, but when a team pulls off such a buy, you tend to think more,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
“Think about it, if MI got Rashid Khan from GT instead of Pandya, It is unthinkable, right? In the EPL or the rest of European football, it happens like this. If this also goes like that, some teams will have the financial strain to match up to those teams, and equality is a question mark. But nevertheless, as MI has done this, it looks pretty clear that they are going for number 6,” he added.
Ashwin, however, went on to praise Hardik, who led GT to the title in their first season in the IPL in 2022. He said that the star all-rounder played with a lot of intent in the middle overs
“He (Hardik) has always been a combination player, giving a few overs and scoring runs when required. In GT, a lot of the team’s success came from his transition as a player who plays the middle overs with intent and leaves the finishing to (Rahul) Tewatia and Rashid Khan,” Ashwin added.
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