Table of Contents
Mumbai Indians (MI) to sack Hardik Pandya from the captaincy? The long-standing question pops up again as the team concluded their IPL 2026 season with 10 defeats and 4 wins only. After the last match of the season against the Rajasthan Royals, MI batting coach Kieron Pollard hints at their next move.
Pollard makes it clear that the team management will sit together to address the possible things they did wrong in the season. Hardik Pandya’s role is also expected to be scrutinized.
Kieron Pollard talks about their next move
Kieron Pollard directly states that the result they wanted could not be achieved for some reasons. Last season, they finished third; now they are ninth in the ten-team league. So there is clearly lack of consistency. Before the next season, the team management will discuss how to get the team on the right track again.
“Yes, it might not have gone as well as he would have wanted, what we would have wanted, but I wouldn’t question anything at this time. Twelve months ago, we finished third. Now again, we finished ninth. Those are the inconsistencies we will have to address. We will sit and talk, lick our wounds, and hopefully come back stronger in 10 months,” Kiron Pollard said to the media at the press conference.
MI in the IPL since 2022
2022: 10th
2023: Lost Q2
2024: 10th
2025: Lost Q2
2026: 9th
Hardik Pandya himself was inconsistence
There is no doubt that Hardik Pandya was not at his best during their IPL 2026 journey. As the leader of the well-decorated team, the star player has attracted a lot of criticism because of some of his on-field decisions. As a player, his individual performance is also not something to remember.
The seam bowling all-rounder, who entered the IPL 2026 after winning the 2026 T20 World Cup, Hardik only scored 206 runs in 10 matches, with a strike rate of 138, and managed to pick up just 4 wickets, with an economy of nearly 12 in this season’s IPL. As Kieron Pollard mentioned, the captain’s individual performance deserves to go under the scanner.
It is not that the team was bad. The team was actually very strong in every department and was considered the favorites to qualify for the play-offs. However, the reality is completely different, and hard to swallow for the Mumbai Indians team management and for their fans as well.
MI could have easily won the match today
In today’s match, against the Rajasthan Royals, MI was in a position to win the match. Hardik Pandya could be the hero as he was a set batter in the middle. At the presentation ceremony, he himself claimed that the target was chaseable. Against RR’s 205, Mumbai managed to get 175 runs for 9 wickets in 20 overs. Hardik Pandya was dismissed after scoring 34 runs from 15 balls.
“It was quite hot as well, bowlers did a pretty good job. It was chaseable, we just lost a lot of wickets in the powerplay, and then it was always a catch-up game,’ the captain of the Mumbai Indians said after the match.
Read More: RR admin revives Salman Khan meme to mock PBKS after knockout blow
