Mumbai Indians are the joint most successful franchise in Indian Premier League history. MI joined the tournament in 2008, where Sachin Tendulkar was named the captain of the team. After Sachin, some great leaders like Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard and Ricky Ponting had the honor of the captaining the Mumbai-based IPL franchise.
It was under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy that the team won its five championships. While Rohit achieved enormous success as the captain of the Mumbai Indians right from his first season as skipper, there have been two such skippers in MI’s IPL history who had a slow start.
In this listicle now, we will look at the two such players who suffered a defeat in their first 2 IPL games as the MI skipper.
1. Hardik Pandya has had a forgettable start as Mumbai Indians captain
Star Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya stunned the cricket universe when he quit Gujarat Titans and moved to MI ahead of the IPL 2024 season. As per reports, Pandya kept a condition to the Ambani Family that if he returns to MI, he should be the team’s captain instead of Rohit Sharma. MI accepted the offer and sealed the deal.
Fans expected MI to dominate straightaway. However, the Mumbai-based franchise have suffered defeats in their two matches played so far. They lost against Gujarat Titans on Sunday and then against Sunrisers Hyderabad last night.
2. Harbhajan Singh
MI Captains Losing their 1st 2 matches
— 𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔 (@Shebas_10dulkar) March 27, 2024
Harbhajan Singh (2008)
Hardik Pandya (2024)*
Looks like We are back to 2008 era 😒#MIvsSRH pic.twitter.com/NVelTlfRBj
Sachin Tendulkar got injured before the start of the inaugural IPL season in 2008. In his absence, Harbhajan Singh captained the side, and the absence of Sachin hurt the team a lot. MI lost their tournament opener against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Next, they lost against CSK by six runs. MI also lost their next game against Punjab Kings under Harbhajan before the skipper got suspended for slapping Sreesanth.
