No space for Rohit Sharma! Hardik Pandya reveals his phone wallpaper featured 3 MI greats

Indian all-rounder and Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya has recalled the emotional moment when the five-time IPL champions had purchased him for a base price of INR 10 lakhs in 2015 ahead of his team’s IPL 2025 game against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 7.

In a heartwarming video, Hardik Pandya has shared his deep admiration for the Mumbai Indians. The star Indian all-rounder has played a key role in four of their five title wins. Hardik said that the Mumbai Indians have always been his favorite team, and the current captain also revealed the players who were in his mobile phone's wallpaper.

Captain Hardik Pandya shares emotional memory of being picked by Mumbai Indians

Before joining the Mumbai Indians, Hardik even had a wallpaper of legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh, and Lasith Malinga on his phone. Surprisingly, Hardik didn't have Rohit's photo as wallpaper despite his immense contributions to the MI franchise. Now leading the same franchise, he feels proud to be part of the teams that have consistently set high standards over the years.

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Hardik Pandya said in a video posted by Star Sports, X: “Getting picked by the Mumbai Indians was even more special because Mumbai was always my favorite team. I had a wallpaper on my phone of Sachin sir, Harbhajan (Singh), and I think Malli's (Lasith Malinga) face was there. So, I have always been a Mumbai fan, and obviously getting the opportunity to come and play for this franchise was even more special. And obviously my journey started from there.”

𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐤 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐈! 💙@hardikpandya7 shares the emotional moment of being picked by @mipaltan and reveals he still has wallpapers of his MI idols.

Will Hardik deliver a match winning all-round performance vs #RCB?#IPLonJioStar 👉… pic.twitter.com/Q4z3SLjwY1

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) April 7, 2025

Hardik Pandya backed by Kapil Dev for India's captaincy

Meanwhile, Pandya’s captaincy hasn’t worked well so far, with Mumbai Indians winning just one of their four matches in the ongoing IPL 2025. Their next big clash is against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday, April 7.

Recently, Kapil Dev backed Hardik to become India’s white-ball captain despite Shubman Gill already being Rohit Sharma’s deputy at the moment. He was earlier denied India’s T20I captaincy, with Suryakumar Yadav taking over the job after Rohit’s retirement from the format.

Rohit Sharma returns to nets ahead of MI's big clash against RCB

On the other hand, Rohit Sharma took part in Mumbai Indians’ net session on Sunday (April 6) to be ready for their big game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Monday at Wankhede Stadium. He had missed the last match against Lucknow Super Giants after hurting his knee before the game.

Rohit was one of the first players to head into the nets. He batted alongside teammate Ryan Rickelton for about 30 minutes and faced quality bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, and Karn Sharma.

While Rickelton was batting, Rohit, who scored 13, 8, and 0 in his three games for MI so far in the tournament, watched from behind and even admired a few of his clean shots, especially a powerful straight drive at the nets.

MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene said on Rohit: “Ro [Rohit] looks good; he's going to bat today as well. We were traveling yesterday. He'll have a hit today, and then we will do an assessment on that.”

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