We need to sit down, address and hopefully make some good calls going forward: Mark Boucher

Mark Boucher and Mumbai Indians. (Photo Source: Twitter)

The ongoing IPL 2024 season was one to forget for the five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI). They finished at the bottom of the table with just four wins from 14 games, ending their campaign with an 18-run loss against Lucknow Super Giants on Friday.

MI’s head coach Mark Boucher admitted that the off-field noise surrounding captain Hardik Pandya may have affected the all-rounder’s performance and impacted the team.

“There were a lot of things happening, a lot of moving parts this season, which wasn’t great to be a part of at certain times. Certain things did affect individuals, which ultimately did affect the team. So those are the sort of things we need to sit down and address and hopefully make some good calls going forward as well to address the off-field stuff,” Boucher said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

The fans’ reaction to Hardik taking over captaincy from Rohit Sharma was evident. Chants for Rohit rang out when Hardik came on to bowl, while boos were directed at the new skipper when he walked out to bat after Rohit’s dismissal.

“It wasn’t great hearing all the boos. Certainly, I felt sorry for Hardik as well. It’s never nice to go through something like that. So yeah, there are certain things we need to address. And we are going to address them, he added.

Also read: Hardik Pandya banned for one match for multiple Code of Conduct breach

I thought he had some good games: Mark Boucher

Despite his struggles, finishing with just 216 runs and 11 wickets, Boucher backed Hardik to emerge as a better leader from this experience.

“I think that if [Hardik] was here, he’d also be disappointed in his performances. From a captain’s perspective, I thought he had some good games. There’s a lot of stuff going on around him that maybe clouded his thoughts now and again, which I said is tough for him as a leader as well,” he further added.

With the disappointment of 2024 behind them, the five-time champions will do some introspection ahead of next season. Boucher hopes the management can make some good calls to course correct.

“[There are] things that we need improvement on, whether on the field or off the field stuff. We’ve got some great heads within the management team as well, and we’ll sit down and we’ll find a way of how to make it better ultimately for the players to produce the sort of cricket that we know these players can produce, which was under par this season,” MI head coach said.

Also read: Rohit Sharma gives autograph to teammate Romario Shepherd, video goes viral

He also shed light on Rohit’s future with the franchise, “To be honest, there haven’t been many conversations about Rohit’s future. I spoke to him last night or the night before, just to do a little review of the season. And I said, ‘What’s next for Rohit Sharma?’ and he said to me ‘World Cup’. And that’s perfect. That’s all I need to know about what Rohit Sharma’s future is,” Boucher concluded.