Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher said he spoke to Rohit Sharma immediately after their last IPL 2024 match against the Lucknow Super Giants, which they lost by 18 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, to learn about his future plans. Despite tapering off in the second half of the season, Rohit ended as MI’s top-scorer with 417 runs, including a hundred and a half-century. He also got a standing ovation from a packed Wankhede crowd, indicating that even the fans fear that they might have just seen the last of Rohit in MI colours.
The speculations have been going on for quite some time now. It got wind after Rohit was apparently heard stating to Kolkata Knight Riders assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, about nothing going right at his “home” MI. The audio wasn’t that clear but Rohit didn’t mention anything about MI but his words made many believe that he was unhappy about the state of affairs at MI.
To top it all, there were rift reports between Rohit and new captain Hardik Pandya. The differences reflected on MI’s performance. They finished last on the points table with just four wins in 14 matches. This was their second bottom-place finish in the last three years.
“To be honest, there hasn’t been many conversations about Rohit’s future at all. I spoke to him last night or the night before, just to do a little review of the season,” Boucher told the media after MI’s 10th defeat this season on Friday.
The former South African keeper-batter said he asked the tough question to Rohit, to which the Indian captain replied “T20 World Cup.”
“I said, ‘what’s next for Rohit Sharma?’ He said to me, ‘the (T20) World Cup’. (And) that’s perfect. That’s all I need to know about what Rohit Sharma’s future is. For me, he’s a master of his own destiny. It’s a big auction next season. Who knows what’s going to happen? We’ll just have to take each day as it comes,” he said.
