Will Rohit and SKY play under Hardik for MI? Captaincy debate gets more complicated with recent turnarounds

In what seemed to be a shocking outcome for the fans who were expecting ‘Hardik Pandya to be the T20I captain’, the star middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav has been appointed as the captain by BCCI for the upcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka. SKY surpassed his MI teammate and skipper Pandya in the race for the national team’s captaincy in the shortest format of the game.

However, the leadership dynamics will remain the same for India in the Tests and ODIs, with Rohit Sharma captaining the national side in both formats. Notably, Rohit Sharma and former skipper Virat Kohli had announced their T20I retirements after India’s World T20 2024 triumph in Barbados.

After Suryakumar Yadav got the T20I captaincy and Rohit Sharma continued as ODI captain, a question is also countering the experts and the fans. The question is about the captaincy of Mumbai Indians in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League.

Will Suryakumar Yadav get MI’s baton as well in IPL?

Last year, there was a big debate in the Indian cricketing corridors regarding the MI captaincy. The middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav and veteran pacer Jasprit Bumrah were being considered the important names in the race for the franchise’s captaincy before the GT skipper Pandya’s trade to the camp.

However, things didn’t go this way and ‘traded’ Hardik Pandya was appointed as the successor of Rohit Sharma in the Mumbai Indians. Suryakumar Yadav couldn’t be a part of the camp as he was injured during that phase. It was quite surprising for the MI fans who were assuming at least Jasprit Bumrah as skipper if not Suryakumar Yadav after Rohit Sharma.

Speaking of Suryakumar Yadav’s captaincy record in the T20Is, he led India in the five-match T20I series against Australia just after the conclusion of the ODI World Cup 2023. In this series, India outplayed the Aussies and won the series by 4-1.

Besides that, Suryakumar Yadav has captained India in 7 T20Is, winning 5 and losing 2 games, having a winning percentage of 71.42.

Will National Captains Rohit and SKY play under Hardik for MI in IPL 2025?

Apart from the captaincy of India’s national team across the formats, another question is heading towards the Mumbai Indians camp, including the fans. It might be an uneasy sight to digest for the fans to see national team skippers, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav playing under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya.

However, a decision is yet to be taken from the Mumbai Indians management about the team’s captaincy in the upcoming IPL 2025. It will be quite interesting to see if the franchise continues with Hardik Pandya as captain or if he passes the baton to Suryakumar Yadav or Jasprit Bumrah.

Besides this entire debate, there are very less chances of five-time IPL champion skipper Rohit Sharma playing for Mumbai Indians in the next season of the tournament. There were a lot of assumptions about his ‘future’ with MI after his leaked conversation with his friend and KKR batting coach, Abhishek Nayar.