Hardik Pandya’s time as Mumbai Indians captain looks set to end, according to The Indian Express. After taking over from Rohit Sharma before IPL 2024, Pandya just couldn’t turn things around. In IPL 2026, Mumbai lost 10 out of 14 matches and landed in ninth place—a pretty rough spot for a team that’s won the league five times. People started talking, especially after Pandya deactivated his Instagram account right after the season wrapped up. That only made the rumors louder.
It’s not just the captaincy at stake. The report says the team is still figuring out if Pandya will stay on as just a player. Apparently, there were signs all season long that the management wasn’t happy keeping him as captain. Everyone in the team could sense something was up.
Pandya arrived with a bit of history—he led Gujarat Titans to an IPL win in 2022—so the hopes were high. The MI management thought he’d be the perfect guy to take over from Rohit Sharma, but it just didn’t pan out that way.
Fans at Wankhede Stadium didn’t hold back either; they booed Pandya throughout the 2024 season as Mumbai finished dead last among ten teams. That’s about as bad as it gets.
Things got a little better in 2025 when Mumbai made the playoffs. With big names like Rohit, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma in the squad, 2026 was supposed to be MI’s comeback year. Instead, the team just fell apart. Bumrah struggled to pick up wickets. Yadav and Varma were all over the place. Rohit was in and out with injuries.
According to the report, at least three people inside the team said the coaching staff gave clear instructions to senior players: wherever you play, you need to be coachable. The coaches would suggest things, backed up with data, but some players just didn’t listen.
Now, Mumbai is staring at some tough conversations ahead. An old-timer in the camp said there’s going to be some real soul-searching. Every option is on the table. They have to answer some tough questions—Does Hardik stick around as captain? Or maybe he just stays as a player? It’s all still up in the air.
