Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma hug it out during a Mumbai Indians practice session

The all-rounder is set to captain Mumbai Indians (MI), replacing their five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy-winning skipper Rohit Sharma in the 2024 season of the cash-rich league.

In November last year, Pandya moved back from Gujarat Titans (GT) to his former franchise as part of a trade between both franchises. The star all-rounder spent two momentous years with GT, spearheading their campaign in the cash-rich league with aplomb. In GT's debut season in 2022, Hardik got them off to a fairytale start, with the team lifting the coveted trophy.

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This heartwarming gesture between these two star players comes when fans of both players are at loggerheads on social media, accusing the team of betraying the five-time IPL winning captain by removing him from the post despite his contributions. During the recent press conference organised by the team ahead of the season, Pandya did not answer when asked by media about a so-called "captaincy clause" in his MI contract. Even the head coach, Mark Boucher maintained a silence on being asked about the reason to remove Rohit from captaincy, adding more fire to fan wars and rumour-mongering on social media.

Though in February, Boucher had said that Rohit was removed from captaincy in order to help him play with more freedom as a batter after a few disappointing IPL seasons with the bat.

In 31 matches for GT, Pandya scored 833 runs at an average of 37.86 and a strike rate of over 133, with six half-centuries and a best score of 87*. He also took 11 wickets for the team, with the best figures of 3/17.

Pandya also played 92 matches for MI from 2015-2021, scoring 1,476 runs at an average of 27.33 at a strike rate of over 153, with four half-centuries and best score of 91. He also took 42 wickets for the team, with the best bowling figures of 3/20. Pandya has won five IPL trophies, four with MI (2015, 2017, 2019, 2020) and GT (2022).

The 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will start from March 22, with defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) set to clash with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a South Indian derby at their home arena--MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Last year's runners-up Gujarat Titans and five-time champions Mumbai Indians will square off against each other in a mouth-watering campaign opening clash on March 24 at Ahmedabad. The fixture has gained a lot of hype because of star all-rounder Pandya's move to his former franchise MI following two great seasons with GT. Shubman Gill has taken over the captaincy of GT.

Mumbai Indians (MI) IPL 2024 squad: Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Verma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal WadheraJasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Hardik Pandya (traded from GT), Romario Shepherd (traded from LSG), Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma. (ANI)