Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan lauded the legacy that Rohit Sharma is leaving behind at the Mumbai Indians. The franchise announced right ahead of the IPL 2024 season that Hardik Pandya will be taking over as the Mumbai Indians captain, replacing Rohit who had been at the helm since 2013. He was traded to Mumbai Indians for INR 15 crore from Gujarat Titans. This marked the end of an era for Rohit, where he led the team to 5 titles in the Indian Premier League.
Rohit is the joint-most successful captain in IPL history alongside MS Dhoni. Rohit took over the captaincy reigns of Mumbai Indians from Ricky Ponting halfway through the IPL 2013 season and led the team to their maiden title win by defeating CSK in the final. Rohit went on to lead Mumbai Indians to victories in 2015. 2017, 2019 and 2020. Rohit is the 4th highest run scorer in IPL history with 6211 runs, out of which 3986 runs have come as MI captain.
Speaking to Star Sports, Irfan opined that Rohit Sharma to Mumbai Indians is what MS Dhoni is to CSK. He acknowledged the efforts with which Rohit built the team and led them to 5 IPL titles.
“Rohit Sharma has a huge stature in the team. For me, Rohit Sharma’s stature in Mumbai Indians is similar to that of Dhoni’s stature in CSK. Rohit Sharma has build the team with blood and sweat as captain, he has contributed a lot, always involved in the team meeting. He is an amazing captain, a bowlers’ captain. Last year, despite (Jofra) Archer’s form and (Jasprit) Bumrah not being there, Rohit still had a great IPL season as a captain,” Irfan said.
