‘Ye toh hona hi tha’ – Fans react as Mumbai Indians lose lakhs of Instagram followers after naming Hardik Pandya as captain for IPL 2024

In a recent official statement, the popular Indian Premier League team franchise Mumbai Indians declared Hardik Pandya as their new captain for the 17th season of the IPL 2024 while replacing the previous captain Rohit Sharma. Under Rohit Sharma’s guidance, Mumbai Indians won their maiden IPL title in 2013 followed by four more IPL titles in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2020, as they became the most successful team in the tournament. 

They saw a drastic fall in their followers on all social media accounts, and approximately 1.5 Lakh followers on Instagram as they replaced Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya as their captain. Not Mumbai Indians recently traded Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans ahead of the IPL 2024 auction. 

Mumbai Indians’ official statement on naming Hardik Pandya as their captain for IPL 2024

“Mumbai Indians today announced a significant leadership transition for the upcoming 2024 season. Renowned all-rounder Hardik Pandya is set to take the helm as the captain of the Mumbai Indians, succeeding its longest-serving, one of the most successful and loved captains the illustrious Rohit Sharma.”

Talking about the transition Mahela Jayawardene, Global Head of Performance of the Mumbai Indians team said, “It is part of legacy building and staying true to the MI philosophy of being future-ready. Mumbai Indians have always been blessed with exceptional leadership right from Sachin to Harbhajan and Ricky to Rohit, who while contributing to the immediate success have always had an eye on strengthening the team for the future. It is in keeping with this philosophy that Hardik Pandya will assume captaincy of Mumbai Indians for the IPL 2024 season.”

“We express our gratitude to Rohit Sharma for his exceptional leadership; his tenure as the captain of the Mumbai Indians since 2013 has been nothing short of extraordinary. His leadership has not only brought unparalleled success to the team but has also solidified his place as one of the finest captains in the history of the IPL. Under his guidance, MI became one of the most successful and loved teams ever. We will look forward to his guidance and experience on and off the field to further strengthen MI”, he added. 

Look how the fans reacted – 

https://twitter.com/vinod_r108/status/1735723582142263530?s=46

https://twitter.com/gautam_ajay007/status/1735722869823328722?s=46

Hitman lives in the hearts of Indian fans and all this happened because of this. pic.twitter.com/cYINIUnXHc

— HM Naveed (@hmnaveed56) December 15, 2023

https://twitter.com/140of113/status/1735723017752416737?s=46

Rohit Sharma effect…. pic.twitter.com/ckwmoijxLo

— Hriday Singh (@hridaysingh16) December 15, 2023

Only 1.5 lakhs out of 13 Million😭😭🤣🤣 tinpot rohit fc

— akshat. (@StanVirat) December 15, 2023

https://twitter.com/asnansays/status/1735722430159630755?s=46

They gonna lose millions by tomorrow

— Anika (@stunninganika) December 15, 2023

Downfall of Mumbai started

— Indian sport action (@sportszone_17) December 15, 2023