Could Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya be reset for the T20 World Cup following a rocky IPL season?

As MI captain, Hardik had subpar all-around results, while Rohit, who lost his position, failed to demonstrate the kind of intent that other openers in the IPL 2024 showed.

In response to his recent loss of the Indian T20 team's captaincy, while leading the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, Rohit Sharma was philosophical. "Not everything goes your way." However, Rohit's environment has altered between his roles as captain, leader, and captain once more. The team he captained to five titles concluded the 2024 Indian Premier League at the bottom of the standings. The home fans, which was upset that Rohit had been stripped of his captaincy, frequently heckled Hardik Pandya, the MI's new captain. And neither was able to put on a performance that inspired them.

That is the extent of the harm that an improper leadership change can do. It was only at the end of MI's terrible season that head coach Mark Boucher acknowledged that it caused issues. This season, there were a lot of moving pieces and a lot of things going on, which at times wasn't fun to be a part of. After the squad's season ended in defeat against the Lucknow Super Giants on Friday, he addressed the media, saying, “There were a lot of things happening, a lot of moving parts this season, which wasn’t great to be a part of at certain times. Certain things did affect individuals, which ultimately did affect the team.”

MI has become entwined with Rohit and Hardik's IPL careers. They only had a brief stint with another team. Rohit spent his first three IPL seasons with the Deccan Chargers before moving to MI in 2011. After he was named MI's captain in 2013, the team won five IPL championships. From 2015 to 2021, Pandya was a member of four titles with MI. In 2022, he led the Gujarat Titans to triumph during their inaugural season. Even though they have experienced success in other contexts, Rohit's leadership and Hardik's playmaking for MI will be what defines their legacy.

Boucher stated that "Hardik is the guy the franchise would like to take MI forward" despite the disappointing results this season. With a massive auction approaching at 37, who knows if Rohit has played his final game for MI?

The responsibility now falls on Rohit and Hardik, the captain and vice-captain of India, to make sure that the unrest at MI does not spill over into the India locker room during the T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies next month. Whether the two can improve on their performances is another matter of concern.

Rohit seems to have had a good season at bat. At 150, he achieved his highest strike rate of the season. However, in his area of expertise, the powerplay, 23 other batters have scored more quickly than he has this season. Rohit last scored more runs than the 417 this season back in 2016. It's more of an indicator of how much his IPL batting has stagnated.

IPL 2024 for Rohit was referred to by Boucher as a "season of two halves." He amassed 261 runs at a strike rate of 167 in the first six games. His remaining runs in the last eight games have come at a strike rate of 127; on Friday, he scored 66 off 38 balls against LSG, partly reviving the phase. Boucher remarked, "If you ask Ro, he would probably say it was an average season."

In remarks on Jio Cinema, Rohit said, "He did not live up to his standard."

There was never any doubt about Hardik's MI captaincy. His overall performance was a bigger letdown, though. Once more, simple statistics like 216 runs at a 143 strike rate and 11 wickets at an economy of 10.75 don't paint a complete picture. Hardik's bowling lacked zip the entire time. Even though Hardik was ideally suited to be the middle-overs enforcer, he was unable to keep the bats moving in a season where he conceded two bouncers per over.

Hardik has bowled just IPL overs between the upcoming T20 World Cup and last year's ODI World Cup, which ended prematurely for him owing to an ankle ailment.

What's more worrisome is that Hardik's power-hitting lacks some resilience. Boucher confirmed the feelings of other specialists. It's taking the MI captain some time to find his finishing touch because his setup changed while he was GT's batting mainstay.

“When Hardik was playing for MI (before) he was a finisher. Then he went to Titans where he was batting in a completely different scenario (higher in the order). He had to make slight technical adjustments to face the newer ball and the lengths,” Boucher stated. “Throughout the season, it was a work in progress trying to get it back to being the finisher (again). He is evolving as a cricketer. Once he gets that hitting power back...I don’t think the power is gone. Just getting used to that position again and the different game scenarios, he will be a rounded player able to play both games.”

It must be a swift turnaround because India just has one warm-up encounter remaining on June 1 before they begin their World Cup campaign in two weeks.