Indian Premier League (IPL) is all set to begin from April 4, 2012, but before that Master BlasterSachin Tendulkar declared to quit from the captaincy of Mumbai Indians.
Sachin has taken this decision of stepping down as MI captain, ahead of the match against Chennai Super Kings. The franchise have selected Harbhajan Singh, who was Tendulkar’s deputy, and appointed him as the captain after Sachin mentioned that he required a break from the leadership duties as the main reason.
As per the statement given by a media release from the franchise, “Sachin Tendulkar, while discussing with the management of MI, has made up his mind to hand the responsibilities of captaining offspinner Harbhajan Singh in IPL Season 5.”
Tendulkar has talked over this issue with the owners of the franchise before taking the decision.He quoted in the release, “At this stage as per me I need a break from the responsibility of captaincy of the Mumbai Indians. After due consideration, I talked over my intensions to hand over the captaincy of the team to Harbhajan Singh, with Mukeshbhai (Ambani) and Nitabhabhi.”
Under the captaincy of Tendulkar for four consecutive seasons of IPL, Mumbai Indians showed their best performance, and the best result achieved was in 2010 tournament when MI finished as runners-up to Chennai Super Kings.
Harbhajan, who guided Mumbai to the Champions League T20 title in 2011, was the spontaneous choice to take over the leadership post. It was incidentally when Tendulkar cheered through that victorious campaign, as he was recovering from a toe injury he picked up at the time of England tour last August.
In spite of Harbhajan’s bowling form being uneven, he has been successful enough as a captain. After leading MI to the Champions League title, he guided the India Green team in the Challenger Trophy, scoring at the top for his side in the tied final and picking up 3 for 37.
Harbhajan also led the Punjab Twenty20 side to the final of Syed Mustaq Ali Trophy in the recent times, where they lost to Baroda.
Well Mumbai Indians is certainly a tough team in the IPL this season; let’s see how it fares under the leadership of Harbhajan Singh!
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