Rohit Sharma (L) and Hardik Pandya© X (formerly Twitter)
The Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) demolition of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Wednesday saw the tied-record five-time IPL Champions, Mumbai Indians become the first team to be officially eliminated from the contention for the playoffs race. According to reports, some of the senior members of the team have expressed their concern regarding Hardik Pandya's style of captaincy which has seen the team's morale falter through the course of the IPL season. Senior players in the likes of Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav held a meeting following a loss in which the players expressed what they believe is the underlying problem and individual meetings were also held to determine the problem, an Indian Express report stated.
Mumbai Indians have been under the leadership of Rohit Sharma for the past decade and with a new captain coming into a set hierarchy is bound to ruffle feathers around the dressing room.
A Mumbai Indian official attributed the team's struggles this season to the transitional phase that they are in. "These are regular teething problems for a team that sees leadership change. This happens in sports all the time," the official was quoted as saying in the report.
Following MI's loss against the Delhi Capitals, Pandya spoke about how he believed Tilak Varma could have targeted Axar Patel more and blamed the loss on game awareness. This particular incident did not sit well with the team considering Varma played a great innings scoring 63 off 32 deliveries on the night and is also the top scorer for the team this season.
Mumbai India currently sits in ninth place in the points table having played a game more than the Gujarat Titans. With all hopes of qualification to the playoffs now behind the franchise, it is of utmost importance for the management to iron out all possible wrinkles before the next season to maximise their chances of winning their sixth IPL trophy next season.
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