Hardik Pandya's debut season as the Mumbai Indians' (MI) skipper earlier this year in the Indian Premier League (IPL) didn't go according to the script. In fact, it turned out to be one of MI's worst seasons, finishing at the bottom of the table. On top of that, he faced the ire of unhappy fans, who did not concur with the franchise's decision to replace Rohit with Hardik as captain. But after being retained by MI on Thursday, the all-rounder has promised to "come in all guns blazing" with a spirit of "brotherhood and friendship".
Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik, Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma are the five capped players retained by MI before the mega auction later this month.
