Hardik Pandya cut a relaxed figure even as he encountered some tough questions related to MI’s decision to replace Rohit Sharma as the captain of the team with him.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya seemed amused during his first press conference as Mumbai Indians captain at the Trident Hotel in Nariman Point on Monday.
Pandya cut a relaxed figure even as he encountered some tough questions related to MI’s decision to replace Rohit Sharma as the captain of the team with him.
Journalists wanted to get his reaction on the controversy surrounding the saga and how he dealt with Rohit loyalists during all this.
MI protects Pandya against journalists’ grilling
The MI franchise officials also tried their best to shield Pandya and new head coach Mark Boucher from the spicy questions being asked by the journalists by telling them to shift the topic to something else related to the team as he had already spoken about Rohit and how he reacted to the fans.
But then came a surprise as a reporter asked a seemingly harmless question which wasn’t even related to anything mentioned above.
“After the transfer did you have a chat with Shubman Gill about kind of passing on the batton at GT?” But MI’s PR team didn’t even allow this question to be answered by Pandya even though it was related to his previous franchise’s new captain and not MI’s former one.
Pandya’s reaction however, was still caught on the microphone in his hand.
“I like it , full drama,” an amused HP was heard saying.
Reporter – after the transfer did you have a chat with shubmangill about kind of passing on the batton about gt.
Hardik- I like it , full drama😂🤣
.#HardikPandya #mumbaiindians pic.twitter.com/AzSNPKYCTt— Hardik³³ (@Hardikxchhavi33) March 18, 2024
Pandya maintains silence on ‘captaincy clause’
The press conference reached its tipping point when our journalist from the Free Press Journal inquired about the alleged captaincy clause in his contract while re-signing for MI but again the PR team intervened by saying that the issue was already addressed by Pandya in the first half.
Although this particular question was different as it did not involve Rohit in any way.
The five-time champions will open their IPL 2024 campaign against Pandya’s previous team GT at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 24.