CHENNAI: In what was his first media interaction since being ruled out of the ODI World Cup last year, Hardik Pandya, the newly appointed Mumbai Indians captain, reaffirmed that his predecessor Rohit Sharma’s hand will be on his shoulders through the upcoming IPL season.

Sharma, who had been MI captain since 2013, was removed from the position after MI brought back Pandya from Gujarat Titans in an all-cash deal. Pandya was named the captain of the five-time champions shortly after. It also put a cloud over who will lead the country in the shortest format, especially with the World Cup around.

Pandya had captained India in T20Is since the 2022 T20 World Cup, but Sharma had made a comeback in the format earlier in January. Ahead of the Rajkot Test against England, BCCI secretary Jay Shah cleared the air and announced that Sharma will lead the country in the upcoming global event scheduled to be played in United States and West Indies immediately after the IPL. This, once again, set off rumors about a rift between the two senior India cricketers.

On Monday, in the pre-tournament press conference, Pandya said that he expects the dressing room environment to remain the same. “It will not be any different, he will always be there to help me. You mentioned that he is the captain of the Indian team, which helps me because this team, what it has achieved, it has achieved under him,” he told the media in Mumbai on Monday. “…from now onwards, it is (about) what he has achieved, I just have to carry forward that. I don’t think it will be any awkward or any different. It will be a nice feeling because we have been playing for 10 years. I have played my whole career under him and he is going to have his hand on my shoulder throughout the season,” Pandya added.