IPL 2024: Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma's Hug During Mumbai Indians' Practice Session Sparks Meme Fest

Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya and former skipper Rohit Sharma hugged it out during a practice session ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season starting from Friday. The all-rounder is set to captain Mumbai Indians (MI), replacing their five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) trophy-winning skipper Rohit Sharma in the 2024 season of the cash-rich league. The viral video of Hardik and Rohit's meeting during the training session sparked a meme fest on social media.

Same energy pic.twitter.com/7KdKQ3HN8Y

Same energy pic.twitter.com/v0xXI5I0pV

In November last year, Pandya moved back from Gujarat Titans (GT) to his former franchise as part of a trade between both franchises. The star all-rounder spent two momentous years with GT, spearheading their campaign in the cash-rich league with aplomb. In GT's debut season in 2022, Hardik got them off to a fairytale start, with the team lifting the coveted trophy.

Same Vibe pic.twitter.com/VmXHZk96fC

Same vibepic.twitter.com/7ByaEtSOQu

This heartwarming gesture between these two star players comes when fans of both players are at loggerheads on social media, accusing the team of betraying the five-time IPL winning captain by removing him from the post despite his contributions. During the recent press conference organised by the team ahead of the season, Pandya did not answer when asked by media about a so-called "captaincy clause" in his MI contract. Even the head coach, Mark Boucher maintained a silence on being asked about the reason to remove Rohit from captaincy, adding more fire to fan wars and rumour-mongering on social media.

Meanwhile 45&33 reaction insidepic.twitter.com/ust1yBWzJV

Though in February, Boucher had said that Rohit was removed from captaincy in