Indian Premier League - General Discussion

[Bevab]

This news now puts the spotlight on who is going to be the Indian team captain for the T20 WC in June next year. If Rohit has given up IPL captaincy which is in the T20 format, does it mean he will captain India in the same format right immediately in the World Cup?

I think Hardik is going to be appointed India captain also, for the T20 WC. According to Jay Shah's recent comments, Hardik is expected to return for the T20I's vs Afghanistan in January 2024 (which is less than a month from now). I would hope that it is the end of the road for Rohit and Kohli in T20 format, as both haven't played T20I cricket since the previous T20 WC, I believe.

Rohit had already indicated that he didn’t want to be involved in the T20I side after this WC. I don’t think he’s played a single T20I after the last one either. While he’s always stepped it up for India compared to the IPL… looking at the latter I would say it’s the right call to make. Jaiswal and Gill have been extremely good for us ever since and Gaikwad’s in there too. Not sure if Kohli will be asked to play but I share your sentiment on him skipping this one.

The real worry over Hardik would be his fitness. No doubt that we’ve had SKY act as captain in these series so that he can step up if needed. Them being at the same IPL side will also help in forming a unified vision for the side.

If they play the cards right we could finally end the curse of a trophyless decade.

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

Typing at 90+ WPM it's not that time consuming

That's cray cray

 

[Bigby Wolf]

 

[asprin]

This now begs the question of… does Rohit make the first team now? He’s been utterly crap with the bat for the last two seasons.

I've not followed the news but I think it will largely depend on whether this decision (to remove Rohit from captaincy) came from Rohit himself or the MI management. If it's the former, then I suppose he will continue to play surely. However, hard to see MI simply discarding someone of Rohit's stature without giving him a proper farewell TBH.

 

[Aravind.]

Translation - Next year captiancy, opening along with Rutu, we'll back you until you find form, new friends for ritika bhabhi.

We'll give you all this, come to us.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

I see reports that this was Hardik’s condition to come to MI is to lead the side and Rohit said he was fine.

MI and Hardik have lost respect from my side. Lost 300000 followers too I see. I will be rooting hard for MI to have a pathetic seasons to come under Hardik. Would he have put the same condition had Dhoni been leading them?

 

[Bevab]

I see reports that this was Hardik’s condition to come to MI is to lead the side and Rohit said he was fine.

MI and Hardik have lost respect from my side. Lost 300000 followers too I see. I will be rooting hard for MI to have a pathetic seasons to come under Hardik. Would he have put the same condition had Dhoni been leading them?

I don't understand how or why this is controversial or disrespectful when every party involved were okay with it.

Rohit Sharma's the same bloke who averaged twenty over the last two IPL seasons. Even before that he was nowhere near as effective for MI as he was for the national side since 2016 and he's burning a big hole in their wage cap. Now if you're MI you can get away with it by paying under the table to retain Bumrah at a well below the market value but Rohit himself is absolutely not worth the 15Cr that he's currently on. I joke about the man treating his IPL stint as a paid vacation but you'd genuinely be wondering if your side wouldn't be better off in the long run by getting a younger domestic opener who can easily perform better than Rohit's performances over the last two years for much cheaper money if you were the Ambanis.

From Hardik's perspective there's nothing wrong with his demand either, why would he want to leave an IPL side where he's got good rapport and support with everyone as captain that's also based in his home state unless MI offer him at least similar terms if not better? The only reason why this is attracting controversy is because our country as a whole is too attached to icons and doesn't like it when someone knows their value and makes demands equal to it without occupying their place so as to speak.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

I don't understand how or why this is controversial or disrespectful when every party involved were okay with it.

Rohit Sharma's the same bloke who averaged twenty over the last two IPL seasons. Even before that he was nowhere near as effective for MI as he was for the national side since 2016 and he's burning a big hole in their wage cap. Now if you're MI you can get away with it by paying under the table to retain Bumrah at a well below the market value but Rohit himself is absolutely not worth the 15Cr that he's currently on. I joke about the man treating his IPL stint as a paid vacation but you'd genuinely be wondering if your side wouldn't be better off in the long run by getting a younger domestic opener who can easily perform better than Rohit's performances over the last two years for much cheaper money if you were the Ambanis.

From Hardik's perspective there's nothing wrong with his demand either, why would he want to leave an IPL side where he's got good rapport and support with everyone as captain that's also based in his home state unless MI offer him at least similar terms if not better? The only reason why this is attracting controversy is because our country as a whole is too attached to icons and doesn't like it when someone knows their value and makes demands equal to it without occupying their place so as to speak.

While I understand your opinion, some things are more iconic related then logical.

Fans who earn BCCi the money are icon connected and so what? All sports team are and that is the purpose of sports. Ronaldo, Messi, Nadal, Federer, Dhoni, Ben Stokes, Tom Brady, Aaron Judge all these names are supported for them as they are icons.

Someone dare do this in CSK. There 3 franchise who have history with icons, MI, RCB, CSK. These are the last remaining icons.

So yes I have a problem and my problem is easily solved by not rooting for them as is my rights as a fan.

Look at SRH post Warner departure who was their icon. There was never an Icon for Delhi or KXIP or Rajasthan post Warne, Yuvraj, Sehwag or KKR post Gambhir.

It is what it is and calling sports fan icon too attached in sports makes no sense. If we are not rooting for icons of our respective franchise who by the way make them, what is even the point. Also its just not India, its everywhere and in all sports.

 

[Bevab]

While I understand your opinion, some things are more iconic related then logical.

Fans who earn BCCi the money are icon connected and so what? All sports team are and that is the purpose of sports. Ronaldo, Messi, Nadal, Federer, Dhoni, Ben Stokes, Tom Brady, Aaron Judge all these names are supported for them as they are icons.

Someone dare do this in CSK. There 3 franchise who have history with icons, MI, RCB, CSK. These are the last remaining icons.

So yes I have a problem and my problem is easily solved by not rooting for them as is my rights as a fan.

Look at SRH post Warner departure who was their icon. There was never an Icon for Delhi or KXIP or Rajasthan post Warne, Yuvraj, Sehwag or KKR post Gambhir.

It is what it is and calling sports fan icon too attached in sports makes no sense. If we are not rooting for icons of our respective franchise who by the way make them, what is even the point. Also its just not India, its everywhere and in all sports.

I'll take the example of Ronaldo here. He's had three club exits since 2018 and none of those clubs have wept for him ever since. The most upset was Real Madrid which is understandable given they were losing their top goalscorer and the best player in the world at that point but even then there was a grumbling sense of acceptance that maybe it was the right decision for the team long-term and that has proven to be the right call. Messi's exit was far more controversial due to Laporta being elected on the promise of keeping hold of him but yet again it was proven to be the right decision for the long-term health of the club. I don't have an idea about American sports so I can't comment on Brady and Judge whilst tennis is an individual sport that has no connection here.

You're forgetting the fickle nature of fandom in team sports. As shown with the Ronaldo and Messi examples, the club's decisions were eventually accepted wholeheartedly because they went on to achieve further successes. I'll add in the example of the club I support here too, we sold arguably our greatest ever player in our history this summer who had been with us since his young days (and was due to become captain this season and is also England's captain for years) and yet no one talks of it in particularly regretful tones beyond a 'what if' because we've played excellent football since then.

If MI win the IPL in the next 2-3 seasons with/without Hardik being at the helm of it all will be forgotten and he will be celebrated along with the team for being 'bold'. This is the same MI where Tendulkar 'conveniently' resigned his captaincy role just before the 2012 IPL started (despite leading the team to a runners-up spot in 2010) and then MI handed it over to Harbhajan who had led them to a Champions League title the year before. This is the same MI that leaked rumours of Tendulkar returning to be the captain in 2013 so that other franchises would believe they wouldn't be in for Ponting in that auction... only for them to bid for Ponting successfully and then appoint him as captain after Kumble had 'convinced' Tendulkar that it was the right choice. This is also the same MI where Ponting then 'dropped' himself after just six games in the same IPL because he wasn't in good form and then Rohit Sharma was given the promotion and.... you know the rest. Rohit at that time was an inconsistent player who couldn't find a role in any format for India and MI was a franchise that had the facilities and money but hadn't won any IPL title until that year's success. Yet now when the same MI appoint Hardik as the captain after Rohit 'agreed' to the decision... they've lost sight of tradition and icon value?

Mumbai Indians were never really the franchise that you believe them to be... they've been ruthless whenever it made sense to be so and if they weren't you would still have Pollard actively playing for the side to cite another example. The Hardik of today is also a far better candidate for captaincy than Rohit ever was back then. If RCB let go of Kohli and won their inaugural title soon after that no one would be outraged at them to add another example. The only team I'll accept this argument for is CSK because of how much they've leaned into the nostalgia factor and 'one family' vibe more than any other franchise throughout their history and even they've let go of Raina... the second most iconic figure in the team's history in controversial circumstances and that has been forgotten quickly too by everyone.

SRH's issue was that they let go of Warner after he had one bad season under acriminous circumstances whilst carrying them on his shoulders prior to that. Rohit hasn't had a strong individual season since 2017 and whilst his captaincy has been great to lead them to three further titles in that period he has also benefitted from having arguably the strongest side in global club T20 history for at least two of them. If SRH had their house in order and showed signs of progress since then nobody would have cared much. It's good that you cite the example of KKR post Gauti because... they did the exact same thing pre Gauti of letting go of an icon who while didn't have any leadership success at the team... was a far bigger figure in both Indian and Bengali cricket at that time in Ganguly (and I'm underestimating how much of an influential figure he was and still is in Bengal, the man was the first superstar from Bengal in ages). The vitriol shown towards KKR for appointing Venky Mysore and pivoting towards Gauti while letting go of Ganguly who nearly had a 500 run season prior to that move was far worse than what is being shown to MI now. Yet a couple of IPL titles later along with Gauti's strong performances and Ganguly's shambolic showing at the memery that ensued at Pune Warriors India... everyone had calmed down and the fans were happily celebrating in Kolkata.

If anything you don't see this idol worship in football... where clubs have existed for decades. I'm not sure of how it is in American sports where franchises are a thing (and the league practically owns the entire thing?) but I don't think the Yankees for one are bleeding fans or if the Angels are going to lose 'respect' or whatever the term is for losing Ohtani to the Dodgers. I'd arguably say that if there wasn't an artificially induced 'scarcity' of icons due to the nature of mega-auctions and retentions there wouldn't be so much outrage at these events but then again... our country has indulged in idol worship for years prior to the IPL.

 

[SaiSrini]

The social media "fan manipulation" game seems to be picking up its intensity quite a lot these days. Bumrah posting implicit 'double meaning' philosophical messages in his Instagram, SKY posting a heartbreak emoji in Twitter after the Hardik captaincy announcement, Dhawal Kulkarni posting the number "45" in his social media page (45 is Rohit's jersey number at Mumbai Indians)....

Also this from Prasanna (Ashwin's YouTube Channel cricket expert and ex-cricket analyst of South African team and also JSK's analyst in SAT20)

I am guessing the hint is at Rohit/Bumrah and CSK , but I am 1000% sure neither Rohit nor MI would even allow such a scenario to happen. CSK also are not the team that will make good use of Rohit. For Bumrah, I am a million times confident that MI wont let him go and that too with their arch rivals CSK. If communication breaks down between Bumrah and MI, they'll release him into auction but not give him to anybody else on a platter. And the Ambanis are very smart/cunning and can overwhelm players with money and successfully dissuade them from leaving like that!

 

[Bevab]

The social media "fan manipulation" game seems to be picking up its intensity quite a lot these days. Bumrah posting implicit 'double meaning' philosophical messages in his Instagram, SKY posting a heartbreak emoji in Twitter after the Hardik captaincy announcement, Dhawal Kulkarni posting the number "45" in his social media page (45 is Rohit's jersey number at Mumbai Indians)....

Also this from Prasanna (Ashwin's YouTube Channel cricket expert and ex-cricket analyst of South African team and also JSK's analyst in SAT20)

I am guessing the hint is at Rohit/Bumrah and CSK , but I am 1000% sure neither Rohit nor MI would even allow such a scenario to happen. CSK also are not the team that will make good use of Rohit. For Bumrah, I am a million times confident that MI wont let him go and that too with their arch rivals CSK. If communication breaks down between Bumrah and MI, they'll release him into auction but not give him to anybody else on a platter. And the Ambanis are very smart/cunning and can overwhelm players with money and successfully dissuade them from leaving like that!

We all know that tweet is talking about the upcoming talent Piyush Chawla.

 

[WubbaLubbaDubDub]

If and only if this becomes true, this would be the biggest move in history of cricket. If SKY or Bumrah or Rohit move to CSK.

 

[Till Valhalla]

this would be the biggest move in history of cricket

Biggest move already happened with Hardik, this might be semi main event or upper midcard thing

 

[SaiSrini]

If and only if this becomes true, this would be the biggest move in history of cricket. If SKY or Bumrah or Rohit move to CSK.

Not sure if he is feeding fan theories, but this is VERY LIKELY to be 'just speculation'. Mumbai smartly announced Hardik captaincy after the trading window closed prior to auction. Now with the auction tomorrow, all teams will most definitely fill up their required slots through auction buys. Which means, chances of a trade happening post auction will be very low.

Bumrah or SKY being let go by MI, is next to impossible. Whatever distaste the captaincy decision has left in their minds, will be cleared up by the Ambanis (IYKYK)

 

[Bevab]

A lot of the speculation just seems like media frenzy trying to cash in on the shock value of the captaincy appointment.

Having said that, I can still see a world where Chawla gets traded.