“So many things wrong”: Rohit’s wife Ritika reacts as MI coach explains captaincy change

Rohit Sharma is one of the most successful captains in the 16 seasons of the IPL, winning 6 trophies as captain, second only to former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. However, he was replaced as Mumbai Indians captain by Hardik Pandya ahead of the auction in December 2023 and Rohit will be available as a batsman for the upcoming IPL.

The decision to replace Rohit Sharma with Hardik Pandya had evoked strong reactions from the MI fans, while key MI player Suryakumar Yadav signalled their reaction to the captaincy change through cryptic posts on social media platforms.

However, almost 3 months after the captaincy change, Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher has explained the reasoning behind the captaincy change for one of the most successful teams in the IPL.

Speaking on the Smash Sports podcast, Boucher said that it was purely a “cricketing decision” to make Hardik Pandya the captain while nothing that there was no easy way to remove Rohit Sharma from the captaincy.

Notably, Boucher’s statement also drew a response from Rohit’s wife Ritika, who has largely kept her opinions on the matter to herself. Replying to the Instagram video of Boucher’s explanation on removing Rohit Sharma as captain, Ritika wrote, “So many things wrong with this.”

Mark Boucher’s explanation on removing Rohit as MI captain

Speaking on the podcast, Boucher said, “One thing I did pick up with Ro (Rohit) is that he is a fantastic guy. I mean he’s been captaining for ages and he’s done really well for Mumbai Indians and for India as well. He walks into a place and there’s just cameras in it and he’s so busy and he hasn’t had probably the best couple of seasons of late with the bat but he’s done well as a captain.”

“And I just thought you know when we’re speaking with the whole Mumbai Indians group, we thought that maybe this is the opportunity for him to step in for his last year or so. We believe he’s got some great value to add and just go out there and actually enjoy it without the hype of being a captain. He is still going to captain India so that hype’s gonna be there but when he steps into the IPL maybe just taking that extra bit of pressure off him as a captain and maybe we get the best out of Rohit Sharma,” he added.

“We want to see him playing with a smile on his face, spending a bit of time with his beautiful family. I think there’s no easy way to do it” the former South African player added.