What Went Wrong With Hardik Pandya’s MI Captaincy?

Mumbai Indians (MI) sealed only their third win of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season on Monday, beating Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium. Yet, this win was different, as it was helmed by deputy skipper Suryakumar Yadav, with regular captain Hardik Pandya absent from the squad.

The official reason for Pandya’s exclusion was back spasms, with Suryakumar saying before the match, “He is not well tonight, so I'm just going into his shoes.” It was a successful change at the top, as far as MI are concerned, as the team delivered one of their most convincing performances in what has been a season to forget.

Despite the latest victory, Mumbai remain second from last in the IPL 2026 points table with just six points from 10 matches. Their playoff hopes hang by the thinnest of threads, with only four wins from their remaining four games giving them a shot at progression. Even then, MI’s qualification hopes are out of their hands.

Amid all this turbulence, the voices calling for the axing of Hardik Pandya have resurfaced, louder than ever. Former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary implied that the MI captain seems to have lost the support of his teammates.

“Based on the cricket I’ve witnessed, a captain must win the confidence of every player; you have to be a leader,” Tiwary said. “However, it feels like no one is standing with Hardik.”

Former Indian batter Sadagoppan Ramesh was much more critical in his analysis, saying that Pandya is not proactive enough and wants others to fix the problems with the team.

“He wants to stay behind and let others fix the problems,” he said. “The players in a team are very clever. They’ll know if a captain is actually leading them from the front or hiding behind. If you stay behind as a captain, the players will never give it their all for you.”

“It’s one thing to fail as a player, but Hardik as a captain is not stepping up in crises. Instead, he sends different people to right the wrong before coming himself.”

Even the mild-mannered Ravichandran Ashwin said that he was “underwhelmed” with Pandya’s captaincy, which is a damning indication from the MI skipper’s former international teammate.

Hardik Pandya’s Problematic Reign

Before we dive into how Hardik Pandya’s MI captaincy is going, it’s important to analyse how he ended up with the role. Despite never having led an IPL team, he was appointed captain by Gujarat Titans (GT) in their inaugural season in 2022.

And it couldn’t have gone any better. The all-rounder led GT to the IPL title in their debut season, becoming only the fourth player to win the trophy in their first season as captain.

Two years on from his GT move, Pandya’s former side MI took a massive gamble to bring him back to the Wankhede Stadium. The move posed an immediate challenge. Rohit Sharma was the established captain, having led MI to a record five IPL titles – the joint-most along with Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) MS Dhoni.

More importantly, waiting in line, their heir apparent, was Suryakumar Yadav. He was already named national team captain in 2023 and made T20I captain a year later. Most fans expected him to inherit the captain’s armband for his IPL franchise as well. Yet, the hierarchy opted for Pandya, and the move did not go well with the MI fans.

In IPL 2024, Pandya was public enemy number one of both the Wankhede crowd and the GT fans, being greeted by deafening boos and whistles. The MI fans were unhappy that a new signing was appointed as captain over the beloved Rohit Sharma, and the GT fans were unhappy that their former icon left them for a mega-money deal.

That year, MI finished bottom of the pile. It was the absolute nadir for a team with the most title wins in IPL history. But Pandya is anything but a quitter, which he proved next season.

Keeping the core of the team intact, Pandya turned around MI’s fortunes. They were once again the title challengers, finishing fourth in the league phase before beating Pandya’s former side, GT, in the eliminator. Although the team lost to Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the second qualifier, it was a moment of redemption for Pandya. The former outcast was, once again, very much Mumbai’s own.

Any hope that he would build on that goodwill and kick on to the next level this season, however, has gone up in smoke. MI are once again staring at the abyss, engaged in a battle with the equally disastrous LSG to avoid finishing at the bottom. And the target of fans’ fury, once again, is Hardik Pandya.

Ironically, the season started on a historic high for MI. They beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by six wickets in the first game of the season, ending a 13-year losing streak of their campaign openers.

From then on, however, it all went wrong. Four losses on the trot – including three at the Wankhede for the first time in IPL history. A 99-run win against GT on April 20 gave them some respite, but this was followed by another three consecutive defeats.

It is all going oh so wrong for the man in charge. Pandya’s win percentage for MI stands at 40.54% – the lowest in the franchise’s history. For reference, his win percentage for GT was 71%.

However, it’s easy to single out one person when things aren’t going according to plan. For MI, the reasons for their no-show this season are multifaceted. The most important is that, for some inexplicable reason, both the batting and bowling stars have lost form at crucial stages.

When Naman Dhir and 39-year-old Rohit Sharma are your top Indian scorers, in a team with Suryakumar, Tilak Varma, and Pandya, that is something beyond the captain’s control. Similarly, no clairvoyant could have predicted that Jasprit Bumrah would have just three wickets to his name after 10 matches. This, again, is beyond the captain’s control.

What Next For MI

Yet, despite all reasoning, the buck stops at Hardik Pandya. He is the captain of the joint-most successful team in the tournament’s history, the poster boy of the Ambani family’s cricketing dynasty. Naturally, he is the one in the critics’ line of fire.

His cause isn’t helped by the presence of Rohit and Suryakumar. One, the most successful IPL captain. The other, coming off the back of a historic ICC T20 World Cup title defence. Not to mention Quinton de Kock, the former South African skipper.

It’s unlikely, however, that MI will pull the plug on Pandya’s captaincy mid-season. Their hierarchy is not known for making rash decisions, especially given the huge egos they have to navigate in the dressing room. For now, when he is fit, Pandya will likely continue as the skipper.

However, he has a tough road ahead. MI’s season is pretty much done and dusted, as far as playoff progression is concerned – mathematical possibility notwithstanding. Pandya’s goal should be to salvage some pride for his team and its fanbase and avoid any further embarrassing defeats – like the two huge losses against CSK this season.

His immediate attention, however, will be on MI’s upcoming trip to face defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on May 10. It’s still unclear whether Pandya will be fit enough to play in that game, but if he is, it might just be the make-or-break moment of his captaincy period.