Mumbai Indians, the five-time champions, once again will enter the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 edition as the overwhelming favourites. The presence of Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, and Tilak Varma in the squad makes the team a dangerous lineup, which will be feared by the rest of the nine teams. One of the strongest sides on paper, it last won an IPL title in 2020, and since then, the silverware has eluded one of the tournament’s legacy teams.
Hardik joined the Mumbai Indians in 2024 after being traded by the Gujarat Titans, and he then replaced Rohit ascaptain. In 2024, plenty of issues surfaced as fans didn’t take kindly to Hardik replacing Rohit. Mumbai finished bottom of the points table. In 2025, the five-time champions reached the playoffs but lost Qualifier 2 to the Punjab Kings, led by Shreyas Iyer.
Ahead of the IPL 2026 season, former national selector Kris Srikkanth advised Hardik to pass the captaincy baton to Suryakumar Yadav, who just won the T20 World Cup for the Men in Blue. He also said that the franchise management needs to come together to decide the future course of action.
“They have to come together again, the franchise owners and the team management with Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya, and set this right again. They should ask Surya to lead this year to see if there is a change of luck. They can always appoint Surya as the captain anytime. They don’t need to announce it right now,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.
“It’s a funny situation. Hardik Pandya is a good captain. But, yes, they have two T20 World Cup-winning captains playing under him now. It’s some internal policy within their setup that they have to sort out. From the outside, the obvious choice should be Suryakumar Yadav. But this might be a franchise policy,” he added.
‘Strange situation’
Srikkanth believes that if Hardik himself decides to pass on the captaincy, things would become easier for everyone involved, and the team can go about its business without breaking a sweat.
“It’s a strange situation, as Hardik played under Rohit and Surya to help India win the World Cup. Otherwise, Hardik should himself say no to captaincy and allow Surya to lead. If Hardik himself says this to the management, things will get resolved. He should say, ‘Let Surya lead and I’ll support’. That’s one way of solving it,” said Srikkanth.
Mumbai Indians will begin the IPL 2026 season on the second day of the tournament (March 29) against the three-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
