Mumbai Indians' succession plan hasn't gone according to their desire as revealed after first three matches in IPL 2024 where the five-time champions languished to the bottom of the table following a hat-trick of defeats. Not only has the results led to experts and veterans criticising Hardik Pandya's captaincy, there have also been calls to reassess the shocking leadership decision made last December, hinting towards a Chennai Super Kings like U-turn. Giving his two cents on the matter, former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden outlined where MI erred on their plans with Hardik.

In late November, the much-rumoured move was made official as Hardik ended his successful two-year stint at Gujarat Titans to return to Mumbai Indians, who had released him before the 2022 auction. Shortly after, Hardik was named the captain for the IPL 2024 season as MI ended Rohit's 11-year tenure as the leader, during which the franchise lifted five trophies in the tournament.

Mumbai fans lambasted the move then and later made their voices heard as they booed and jeered at Hardik at each of the three venues MI played in IPL 2024, including at Wankhede Stadium.

Speaking to Star Sports, Hayden admitted that he understood the point of view of the MI fans, adding that there is “no getting around” what feel about Hardik, given their love and support for Rohit. He added that the franchise, after ensuring that the former captain in onboard with the decision, can directly reach out to the fans on the matter.

“See the fans are the biggest stake holders in this and they often don't have the politics, the insights, but they want to understand this, they love Rohit Sharma. There's going to be no getting around that. So potentially how it could have been handled little bit differently is to ensure that Rohit is on board with it, the franchise is communicating it out to the fans, through social media platforms that announce a lot of these things and they actually carry a lot of weight,” he said.

Hayden further sent a reminder on the 2022 situation at CSK when their succession plan with Ravindra Jadeja backfired, as MS Dhoni reclaimed the leadership role mid-season, but admitted that it would be unfair to judge Hardik so quickly after just three defeats given that MI have been slow starters. On the contrary, he also said that it would be unfair to judge his and the team's performance and then speculate on the dressing-room scene.

“You got to have a succession plan and you've seen the same thing with CSK last season didn't we, when Jaddu came into captaincy and it didn't quite work for them so maybe there is an opportunity to reassess, there are some concerns in and around Hardik's leadership but I think it's grossly unfair to look at the start of the season which is notoriously slow for the Mumbai Indians, and judge one of the iconic cricketers in India and will be for a long time to come as well, subject to his own fitness which is always vulnerable being an all-rounder as he is. But it's grossly unfair to misjudge his performances so far, and the team’s performances and then speculate around what is and what isn't happening inside that changing room which we don't know,” he said.

MI will play their next match against Delhi Capitals on April 7 at the Wankhede.

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