April 8 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Former Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma was asked to give a short speech after he was handed a special award for his batting performance in MI’s first win in IPL 2024. Rohit laced six boundaries and three maximums in his fiery 27-ball 49, while stitching an 80-run opening stand with Ishan Kishan, which laid the foundation for the match-winning total of 234 for five. However, a certain remark in that short dressing-room speech on Sunday sparked social-media furore as MI fans reckoned that the senior opener “doesn’t look happy”.
In the 55-second video posted by Mumbai Indians on their social media handle, captioned: “A Ro special at Wankhede. A Ro special in the dressing room,” Rohit is hailed for his batting performance by head coach Mark Boucher before the incumbent Team India captain is handed a special badge for his effort by batting coach Kieron Pollard.
In his short speech, the 36-year-old hailed the team’s collective effort, which included 40-odd runs from Ishan Kishan and Tim David followed by an explosive 10-ball 39 by Romario Shepherd, as MI scored their third-highest total in the history of the IPL.
“It was a wonderful batting performance. It’s something that we’ve all been striving for from game one. It goes to show that individual performances don’t matter if the whole batting group can stand up put their hand up and take a look at the team’s goal, we can achieve that kind of total,” said Rohit.
“So I think that is something that we have been talking about for a long time. It’s something that the batting coach (Pollard), Mark (Boucher), and the captain (Pandya) want. So it is wonderful to see and long may it continue,” Rohit added.
While it seemed like Rohit was trying to inspire the Hardik Pandya-led side to put on more such performances, MI fans reckoned that the former captain looked “unhappy” and “uncomfortable” in the dressing room, especially when he said: “that’s what the captain wants.” Here are some of the reactions…
Fan theories or speculations like these will continue to prevail unless Rohit himself doesn’t address the issue to officially bury all such rumours about the MI dressing-room, which originally began when the India opener was removed from the leadership role by the franchise last December to name Hardik the new skipper.
Earlier in the day, fans speculated that despite Rohit and Hardik sharing a hug after the win against DC, the rift remained after the former captain did not include a picture of the incumbent leader in his post-match tweet.
