Rohit Sharma is no longer the captain of the Mumbai Indians. Although Sharma guided MI to five trophies in IPL, the franchise have decided to sack him as the skipper. Hardik Pandya has replaced the Hitman as the next captain of the Mumbai Indians team.
Soon after MI’s announcement, reports have surfaced online claiming that a mega trade could happen after the auction. The names of the players involved have not been revealed, but fans are guessing it to be Rohit Sharma, who would be very unhappy with how things have been done.
In case Sharma gets traded to another franchise, the Mumbai Indians will need a new opener. Here are three players who can replace him as opener.
1. Vishnu Vinod can replace Rohit Sharma
Vishnu Vinod is a talented Indian batter, who has played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the past. He has been with MI for some time now. Considering that MI know how to unearth new talents and turn them into a superstar, Vinod could be the next big thing in the top-order of the Mumbai Indians playing XI.
2. Romario Shepherd
If Mumbai Indians want to think out of the box, they can send Romario Shepherd to open the innings with Ishan Kishan. In 2017, KKR used an opening pair of Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn. It proved to be a very successful pair, with Narine taking advantage of powerplay. Shepherd can do the same role for MI.
3. Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav may not get a proper place in the middle-order, which already consists of Tilak Varma, Nehal Wadhera, Hardik Pandya, Tim David and Dewald Brevis. Hence, MI’s team management can think of promoting him as an opener. Yadav has opened the batting for India in T20Is and performed decently.
