New Delhi: Just before the conclusion of the Indian Premier League 2026, a big news is coming out from the camp of five-time champion Mumbai Indians. After the very disappointing performance of the team this season, the captaincy of star all-rounder Hardik Pandya is in danger. According to the report, the franchise management is seriously considering removing Hardik Pandya from the leadership post.

Mumbai Indians’ journey has been shameful

The journey of Mumbai Indians during IPL 2026 was very ups and downs and lackluster. Under the leadership of Hardik Pandya, the team won only 4 out of 14 matches played in the entire season, while it had to face defeat in 10 matches. Due to this poor game, the team remained at ninth position in the points table.

keep an eye on the captain

The blame for this poor performance now seems to be falling directly on the captain. At least three senior officials within the franchise have confirmed that Hardik may be relieved of the captaincy and discussions are also underway on his future as a player in the team.

Differences between coaching staff and players

According to sources, the management was not in favor of keeping Hardik as captain for a long time. This bitterness was clearly visible in the conversation between the coaching staff and the players after the last match of the season against Rajasthan Royals. The coaching staff has given a clear message to the senior players that they should be ready to change their strategies.

did not follow instructions

There were many occasions during the season when the coaching staff recommended taking some decisions based on modern cricket data but the players did not follow those instructions on the field. Apart from this, the team completely failed to make proper use of power play like other successful teams this year, which clearly shows that the team could not keep pace with modern T20 cricket.

Who will take command of Mumbai?

Mumbai Indians have two very strong and experienced captaincy options for the upcoming season. The management can hand over the command of the team to either vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah or aggressive batsman Suryakumar Yadav. If this experiment is not successful in the next season too, then Mumbai will have a chance to choose a completely new team and a new captain in the mega auction to be held before IPL 2028.

Will keep an eye on upcoming changes

Before the last mega auction, Mumbai Indians had retained Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Verma. Now it will be interesting to see which players the team management trusts and whom it releases amid the upcoming changes.