There were rumors circulating that Chennai Super Kings were one of the teams that approached Mumbai Indians for a trade involving Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and others.
Reports on social media suggested unrest within Mumbai Indians, particularly evident in cryptic posts from Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah related to the recent announcements about Hardik Pandya’s captaincy, following his trade from Gujarat Titans in the past month. Some sources even suggested that key players like Rohit Sharma, who had a decade-long captaincy tenure with five IPL titles, along with Bumrah and Surya, were dissatisfied with the change in leadership. Speculations hinted at a potential trade involving at least one of the players—Rohit, Surya, or Bumrah—moving to a different team.
Mumbai Indians promptly refuted these rumors, explicitly denying any claims of trade discussions involving Rohit. There were suggestions that Chennai Super Kings were among the teams interested, but franchise CEO Kasi Viswanathan unequivocally dismissed such speculation.
Speaking to Cricbuzz during the IPL 2024 auction in Dubai, Viswanathan clarified that CSK neither adheres to the practice of trading players nor possesses players available for trade with Mumbai Indians. He stated, “We don’t trade players as a principle, and we also don’t have players to trade with Mumbai Indians. We have not approached them, and we don’t intend to either.”
Mumbai Indians’ head coach, Mark Boucher, also downplayed reports of internal conflicts within the team following the announcement of Hardik as the new captain. Boucher acknowledged the emotional aspect of such decisions and emphasized that it was merely a transitional phase for the team.
“We have had conversations with certain team members and the leadership within the group. I think it’s purely just a transition phase. It’s the game of cricket. Mumbai Indians move forward. Rohit has been fantastic for us. He’s been a stalwart for Mumbai Indians, he has done really well. This is just a decision that is made by us to move forward and get into a transition phase with the new captain,” Boucher explained. Despite social media rumors, Boucher affirmed that the situation was handled in the best possible way, and the team is focused on the transition for the future.
