Social Media Frenzy: Mumbai Indians Shed 500K Followers as Pandya Steps up as Captain

According to sources, Pandya demanded the captaincy role in order to return to Mumbai Indians. India all-rounder Hardik Pandya has been announced as the new captain of the Mumbai Indians (MI) franchise for the upcoming IPL 2024. This marks the end of Rohit Sharma’s ten-year stint as the MI skipper, who led the team to five IPL triumphs. However, Pandya’s appointment as captain was met with backlash from Rohit Sharma fans, who expressed their dissatisfaction with trends such as ‘ShameOnMI,’ leading to a significant drop in MI’s official Instagram followers. It is unclear whether Rohit voluntarily stepped down as captain. Suryakumar Yadav, India’s T20I skipper, also expressed his disappointment with a cryptic broken heart emoji story following Rohit’s removal from captaincy. Last month, Pandya was traded to Mumbai Indians after initially being retained by Gujarat Titans ahead of the IPL Auction 2024. The IPL Auction 2024 is set to take place on 19 December 2023 in Dubai, with franchises expected to engage in a bidding war for talented players. The auction may see record-breaking bids for star performers of the recent World Cup 2023, including players like Travis Head, Rachin Ravindra, Shardul Thakur, and Mitchell Starc.