IPL 2026: Hardik Pandya is taking Mumbai Indians to the trough, such poor captaincy would not have been seen in IPL history.

New Delhi: Mumbai Indians team has flopped badly in the Indian Premier League 2026. Under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya, Mumbai has played a total of 8 matches so far this season, out of which it has faced defeat in 6. After this disappointing performance, questions are now being raised on Hardik’s captaincy. Especially in the match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, no one understood Hardik’s captaincy.

In the match played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to bat first. Hardik made two changes in the team. Ryan Rickleton and Robin Minz were included in the playing eleven. Ryan Rickelton came into the team in place of injured Quinton De Kock and played a strong unbeaten innings of 123 runs, but Robin Minz could not make any contribution in this match. In fact, this young wicketkeeper batsman did not get to bat at all.

Impact sub player kept staring at the field

When Sunrisers batsmen were wreaking havoc during Mumbai’s bowling, Hardik Pandya called Shardul Thakur on the field as an impact sub in place of Robin Minz. This season, Shardul worked many times to get wickets for Mumbai in difficult times, but the surprising thing is that captain Hardik did not bowl even a single ball to Shardul. In this way, Shardul Thakur became the first impact sub player in IPL history who neither batted nor got bowling.

Let us tell you that impact sub players play an important role in IPL matches. Many times such players have become the architects of victory for their team, but questions are being raised why Hardik Pandya did not use it despite taking the impact sub in the match against Sunrisers.

Mumbai Indians team lost even after scoring 243 runs

In the match against Sunrisers, Mumbai Indians had scored a strong score of 243 runs due to Rickleton’s century, but despite the presence of veteran bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult, the team could not defend it. This was the second time in IPL that Mumbai team has lost by scoring 200 or more runs. Both the times this has happened under the captaincy of Hardik Pandya.

Under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, who led Mumbai Indians to five titles, Mumbai Indians never lost by scoring more than 200 runs. This is the reason why now the sword is hanging over the captaincy of Hardik Pandya. Let us tell you that when Rohit Sharma was removed from the captaincy and this responsibility was given to Hardik, the fans of Mumbai Indians had booed a lot during the match regarding this decision of the team. In such a situation, if the team does not reach the playoffs this season, then a major reshuffle may be seen in the captaincy of Mumbai.