Watch: Hardik Pandya Sets Up Temple Inside Mumbai Indians Dressing Room, Mark Boucher Breaks Coconut

For the primary time since leaving Mumbai Indians there years in the past, Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya returned to the franchise’s dressing room forward of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season beginning on March 22 this yr. Hardik, who was traded-in from the Gujarat Titans a number of months, in the past, has been within the headlines due to the franchise’s choice to nominate him the captain, instead of the talismanic Rohit Sharma. As Hardik first stepped into the MI camp, forward of the brand new season, he put in a temple within the dressing room, whereas head coach Mark Boucher broke coconut.

In a video posted by Mumbai Indians (MI) official X (previously Twitter) deal with, Pandya was seen coming into the MI dressing room and performing a pooja together with head coach Mark Boucher.

#OneFamily #MumbaiIndians @hardikpandya7 pic.twitter.com/XBs5eJFdfS

— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) March 11, 2024

In November final yr, Pandya moved again from Gujarat Titans (GT) to his former franchise as a part of a commerce between each franchises. The star all-rounder spent two momentous years with GT, spearheading their marketing campaign within the cash-rich league with aplomb. In GT’s debut season in 2022, Hardik acquired them off to a fairytale begin, with the staff lifting the coveted trophy.

In 31 matches for GT, Pandya scored 833 runs at a mean of 37.86 and a strike fee of over 133, with six half-centuries and a finest rating of 87*. He additionally took 11 wickets for the staff, with the perfect figures of three/17.

Pandya additionally performed 92 matches for MI from 2015-2021, scoring 1,476 runs at a mean of 27.33 at a strike fee of over 153, with 4 half-centuries and finest rating of 91. He additionally took 42 wickets for the staff, with the perfect bowling figures of three/20. Pandya has gained 5 IPL trophies, 4 with MI (2015, 2017, 2019, 2020) and GT (2022).

The seventeenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will begin from March 22, with defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) set to conflict with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a South Indian derby at their house arena–MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Last yr’s runners-up Gujarat Titans and five-time champions Mumbai Indians will sq. off towards one another in a mouth-watering conflict on March 24 at Ahmedabad. The fixture has gained quite a lot of hype due to star all-rounder Pandya’s transfer to his former franchise MI following two nice seasons with GT. Shubman Gill has taken over the captaincy of GT.

Mumbai Indians (MI) IPL 2024 squad:Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Verma, Tim David, Vishnu Vinod, Arjun Tendulkar, Shams Mulani, Nehal Wadhera

Jasprit Bumrah, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Jason Behrendorff, Hardik Pandya (traded from GT), Romario Shepherd (traded from LSG), Gerald Coetzee, Dilshan Madushanka, Shreyas Gopal, Nuwan Thushara, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Mohammad Nabi, Shivalik Sharma.

With ANI inputs