Netizens reacted to Ritika Sajdeh's recent social media post that appeared to be a swipe at Mark Boucher, the coach of the Indian Premier League franchise Mumbai Indians (MI), who backed her husband Rohit Sharma's sacking as the side's skipper.

 

Ritika Sajdeh took Mark Boucher head-on after his recent revelations about the switch in the captaincy of the Mumbai Indians.

 

In a recent statement, Mark Boucher revealed the reasons behind the sacking of the Nagpur-born cricketer as the Mumbai Indians skipper and Hardik Pandya's appointment in his place.

 

“I think it was purely a cricketing decision. We saw the window period to get Hardik back as a player. For me it's a transition phase. A lot of people don't understand in India, people get quite emotional, but you know you take the emotions away from it. I think it's just more of a cricketing decision that was made and I do think it is going to bring the best out of Rohit as a person as a player. Just let him go out and enjoy and score some good runs,” the Mumbai Indians coach said on the Smash Sports podcast.

 

“One thing I did pick up with Ro (Rohit) is that he is a fantastic guy. I mean he's been captaining for ages and he's done really well for Mumbai Indians. Now he also leads India as well. It is that he walks into a place and there's just cameras in it and he's so busy and he hasn't had probably the best couple of seasons of late with the bat but he's done well as a captain,” Mark Boucher added.

 

“I mean one of the things I have spoken about is when you arrive at the IPL and he (Chris Morris) will be able to tell you as well that there's a lot of stuff going on, there's photoshoots and this and that and a lot of emphasis is not actually on the cricket. It's more about the advertising and all that sort of stuff,” he pointed out.

 

“I just thought you know when we're speaking with the whole Mumbai Indians group, we thought that maybe this is the opportunity for him to step as a player. We believe he got some great value to add and just go out there and actually enjoy it without the hype of being a captain,” Mark Boucher noted.

 

“He is still going to captain India so that hype's going be there but when he steps into the IPL maybe just taking that extra bit of pressure off him as a captain and maybe we get the best out of Rohit Sharma. We want to see him playing with a smile on his face,” the former South Africa wicketkeeper-batter explained.

 

However, Mark Boucher's comments didn't go well with Ritika Sajdeh.

 

Ritika Sajdeh reckoned that Mark Boucher's statement was “wrong” in many aspects.

 

Responding in the comments section of the podcast, Ritika Sajdeh posted: “So many things wrong with this…”

 

Ritika Sajdeh's views on the matter triggered an avalanche of reactions on Twitter, now X, as fans took a dig at the Mumbai Indians for describing themselves as “one family.”

 

They highlighted that the family members were now fighting amongst themselves.

 

This showcased that there was no love between the family members, and they were only staying together for the sake of money and fame.

 

Also, some labeled MI's move as “ugly” and without any logic, as Hardik Pandya was an injury-prone cricketer who was out of action nearly six months in a year, more often than not.

 

It is worth noting that Rohit Sharma was removed as skipper of the Mumbai Indians in December 2023 after leading the franchise to five IPL titles during his decade-long stint as captain from 2013 to 2023. 

 

This came only a month after Rohit Sharma failed to lead the Indian Cricket Team to World Cup glory, having lost the final of the premier ODI competition to Australia at home in Ahmedabad in November.

 

While the move resulted in a massive drop in Mumbai Indians' social media base and brutal trolling of their newly appointed captain, Hardik Pandya, the Ambanis-owned team stuck to their decision.

 

For the unversed, Hardik Pandya played for Mumbai Indians for seven consecutive seasons starting in 2015 before parting ways to join Gujarat Titans during the 2022 season.

 

During his seven-year sojourn with Mumbai Indians, the Team India all-rounder remained a vital cog in the then Rohit Sharma-led team's title-winning runs in 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2020.

 

Hardik Pandya's two-year term as the leader of the Gujarat Titans (GT) was highly successful as the Gujarat-born cricketer guided them to the IPL title in their maiden season in 2022.

 

During IPL 2023, Gujarat Titans topped the points table during the group stage before making it to the final. 

 

However, the Ahmedabad-based franchise failed to lift their second successive IPL trophy after losing to the charismatic MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the title clash.

 

Rohit Sharma is currently leading the national team in a five-match Test series against England. 

 

After suffering a shock defeat at the hands of the Ben Stokes-led side in the first Test in Hyderabad last month, Team India bounced back in style with a big win in the second in Vizag in February.