"Success has many fathers failure is an orphan." That old English adage seems to be true even for cricket icon Rohit Sharma.
But here, we are not discussing Rohit 'Hitman' Sharma's success as an international cricketer or his credentials, achievements as Team India skipper.
The world of cricket is aware of his abilities and track records. The BCCI has already named him the captain of India's Twenty20 World Cup 2024 squad.
In recent times, though his performances as a batsman or a captain in Team India has never been seriously questioned, but the same interestingly seems to be different for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians (MI).
Rohit as a skipper has led Mumbai Indians to five IPL titles. He took over the MI captaincy from Ricky Ponting in 2013. Rohit won the first title for MI in his debut year as captain in 2013.
Rohit Shama took Mumbai to their golden period, winning the trophy five times in 10 years (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020) and reaching the playoffs twice.
But that is history for the MI management. Rohit's personal performance as a batter and captain have not been too impressive in the IPL in last couple of seasons.
As a result, the MI management roped in their former associate Hardik Pandya as Rohit's replacement as the captain of the franchise. For a record, Hardik too has done well as the skipper of an IPL franchise.
Under Hardik's leadership, the Gujarat Titans (GT) won the trophy in 2022 and last year they were runners-up losing to the Chennai Super Kings in a close fought summit clash.
Of course, many cricket experts and fans believe that GT's success as a new IPL franchise has more to do with its pro-active coach Ashish Nehra than Hardik's leadership.
But that does not deter Hardik's leadership skills, as he too has led Team India in a few white-ball games in Rohit's absence.
Now, with Hardik leading MI and he himself opening the bowling attack ahead of proven old war-horse Jasprit Bumrah, has confused many cricket experts and fans.
Well, that may be a temporary plan by the MI think-tank. But with change in leadership and Bumrah not operating with the new ball, many are of the opinion that 'not everything is fine' in the MI camp.
Whatever may be the reasons of Rohit being replaced by Hardik as MI skipper and Bumrah not opening the bowling attack, the decisions have surely sparked debates among cricket experts and fans.
Moreover, Mumbai Indians losing their first two league matches have added fuel to the debate.
Now, if Hardik does not succeed much as MI skipper and his successor in GT, young Shubman Gill does well as a first time leader, then will that affect Hardik's future prospects as Team India's next white-ball captain?
Remind you, Gill led GT to victory against Hardik Pandya captained MI. Since the match was played in Ahmedabad, Hardik was also booed by the local crowd.
If Gill continues to do well as GT captain, then the 'Nehra' magic as GT coach, may redeem the much-talked about Hardk's charisma as a white-ball captain.
Coming back to Rohit's possible successor as Team India captain in the shorter formats, Hardik is surely not the only option. K L Rahul, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav too have led Team India in recent past in absence of its regular skipper Rohit Sharma.
In that case, if someone else other than Hardik Pandya, succeeds Rohit Sharma in the white-ball formats after the Twenty20 World Cup 2024, that may not be a surprise. Is not that?
