The Indian Premier League witnessed the clash between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens on Saturday.
Ahead of the match, a video surfaced on the internet that showed a casual yet intense conversation between Mumbai Indians opener Rohit Sharma and KKR assistant coach Abhishek Nayar. The conversation in Hindi between the duo was soon decoded and stirred a hornet's nest. Rohit, who was replaced by Hardik Pandya as the captain of the franchise, was heard talking about "things changing" and things being "his last."
Among the things that were decoded amidst the loud Eden Garden crowd are as follows, "Ek ek cheez change ho raha hai...Woh unke upar hai...Jo bhi hai woh mera ghar hai bhai, woh temple jo hai na maine banwaya hai...(Everything is changing one by one... It's on them... Whatever be, it's still my home brother, it's the temple that I constructed) "Bhai mera kya mera to ye last hai" (Why do I care, it is my last anyway)
While the context of the conversation is unknown speculations are rife that "Hitman" was sharing his thoughts about Hardik Pandya's arrival from Gujarat Titans to take over the captaincy from him. The comment on "being last", many worry, meant that Rohit Sharma may leave the Mumbai-based team at the end of the season.
The video, that has the logo of KKR, has been deleted from many handles after people started decoding the sensational content, news reports said.
ROHIT SHARMA AND ABHISHEK NAYAR: WATCH THE VIRAL VIDEO HERE:
... That chat.
— HitMan 🖤 (@Sachin__i) May 11, 2024
Rohit to Nayar "Ek ek cheez change ho rha hai!,, Wo unke upar hai,,, Jo bhi hai wo mera ghar hai bhai, wo temple mene banwaya hai"
Last line - "Bhai mera kya mera to ye last hai" And now KKR deleted that chatting video of Rohit Sharma and Nayar
#RohitSharma pic.twitter.com/4BiQzutQdH
Earlier, South Africa great AB de Villiers had clained that experienced Mumbai Indians teammates weren't exactly impressed by Pandya's captaincy.
"The captaincy style of Hardik Pandya is quite bravado. It's ego-driven in a way, chest out," De Villiers said on his YouTube channel.
"When you play with a lot of experienced players, guys who have been around for ages, they don't buy into that. It worked at GT, where it was a younger team. Sometimes, inexperienced players love to follow that kind of leadership. ... We don't need the bravado," ABD, who is fondly called "Mr 360", was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
Hardik Pandya's first stint as Mumbai Indians skipper replacing the highly successful Rohit Sharma turned into a nightmare as the five-time champion franchise failed to reach the play-offs. Worse, the MI fans didn't like team's decision with Pandya being greeted with boos in every single game.
Pandya had led a young Gujarat Titans team to back-to-back IPL finals winning the inaugural edition. De Villiers opined that the style which flopped in Mumbai Indians worked in an earlier franchise because the core group was much younger.
