Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya hug each other, chat at MI camp

MUMBAI: All is well, it seems, in the Mumbai Indians camp. On Wednesday evening at the Wankhede Stadium, MI captain Hardik Pandya and the franchise’s former skipper and Indian captain Rohit Sharma hugged each other and had a nice chat between themselves prior to the team’s final intra-squad practice match, in preparation of IPL 2024.
“In a video put on Instagram by the Mumbai Indians on Wednesday, Pandya was seen walking up to Rohit and giving him a warm hug.”Apart from this hug, Rohit and Hardik had a nice 5-10 minutes chat before the MI team huddle was followed by the practice match in the evening. Rohit couldn’t go to Alibaug with the rest of the Mumbai Indians squad for a team bonding session on Tuesday as he wanted an extra practice session that day. He joined the MI camp on Monday, and has been practicing every day since then,” a source told TOI.
At MI’s pre-season presser, when quizzed about whether he had an opportunity to have a chat with Rohit, Pandya had replied by saying: “Yes and no to that, because he has been travelling and playing. We haven’t seen each other for the last couple of months. We are all professionals, and by the time the team comes together and once he comes in, we will definitely have a chat,” Pandya had said.
Meanwhile, MI’s players and support staff spent some quality time as part of a team bonding exercise during their one-day long trip to Alibaug. The team’s ferry took off from the Mumbai harbour with the iconic Gateway of India in the backdrop. Apart from Rohit, another notable absentee from the group of players was India’s ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who is expected to link up with the squad on Thursday-the day MI reach the city for their opening match of IPL-2024, against 2022 IPL champions Gujarat Titans, Pandya’s former team, on March 24 (Sunday).
Rohit joined the team a couple of days back at the Wankhede and shared pictures of his first batting drill.