Ninth out of ten and a Pollard line that gave the game away: Mumbai Indians' Hardik question is real now
Mumbai Indians finished ninth this season. Ninth out of ten. Their last act in IPL 2026 was a 30-run home defeat to Rajasthan Royals on Sunday, a side that needed the points beating one that had nothing to play for. Four wins, ten defeats, two bottom-two finishes in the three full seasons Hardik Pandya has captained the franchise. At some point that becomes a pattern rather than a run, and the most interesting thing about Sunday was the man asked about it afterwards.
Kieron Pollard does not duck questions. The Mumbai batting coach, asked in the post-match press conference about Hardik's captaincy, gave the kind of answer that tells you the franchise is at least thinking about it. "From a leadership perspective on Hardik, yes, it has not gone maybe as well as he would have wanted as an individual," Pollard said. Not a defence. Not a denial. A measured, honest concession that the season had not landed where anybody at MI wanted.
The case for keeping Hardik
Mumbai's loyalty to captains is unusual in the league. Rohit Sharma led for eleven seasons and five titles before Hardik took the armband in 2024. The franchise does not change leaders the way Punjab or Royal Challengers Bengaluru do. Hardik is also still 32, still the closest thing India has to a finisher with the ball, and still a centre-of-gravity all-rounder the team is structurally built around. Removing him as captain raises the obvious next question: replace him with whom?
Rohit is the answer fans on social media want. He turned 39 last month and will be 40 by next IPL. He led India to a T20 World Cup in 2024 and is a five-time IPL-winning captain, and he would presumably welcome the armband back. The franchise has been clear in private that they want Hardik long term. They were clear in 2024 when they took the captaincy off Rohit at the cost of a famously hostile Wankhede crowd, and they have not signalled a reverse.
The case against keeping him
The numbers are not kind. Hardik scored 146 runs in eight IPL 2026 innings at an average of 20.85. With the ball he averaged 57.25 and conceded close to 12 an over. As captain he has now suffered three separate streaks of four consecutive defeats, the latest of which sealed Mumbai's exit. He has missed games with injury in each of his captaincy seasons. The IPL is unforgiving on a captain who cannot deliver one of his two trades reliably, and Hardik in 2026 was neither the bowling enforcer nor the batting closer the franchise has paid him to be.
The deeper issue is that MI looked confused all season. The order changed match to match. Suryakumar Yadav was the only batter given a settled role and he carried more than a captain should ever ask of one player. Jasprit Bumrah bowled some of the best four-over spells of his career and the side still folded around him.
What Pollard's tone tells you
Pollard is loyal to the franchise. He is loyal to Hardik. The fact that he would not put either of those loyalties ahead of an honest answer in a press conference is the signal. He could have said the captaincy is unquestioned. He could have said the squad let Hardik down. He said neither. He said it has not gone as well as Hardik wanted, and that there will be discussions internally. Both of those are admissions.
What happens next is mostly an off-field call. Mumbai have a long off-season before IPL 2027, a young core to settle, and a head coach in Mahela Jayawardene who has historically backed his captains in public and pushed his views in private. The smart bet is that Hardik keeps the captaincy and the team is rebuilt around him. The smarter bet is that the conversation in private goes wider than the public line. Either way, ninth in the ten-team table is not a finishing position MI can shrug off.
Cricket Updates
