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Former Team India captain Chris Srikkanth has made a big prediction about Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya. Pandya is under a lot of scrutiny for his and his team’s poor performance in IPL 2026. For the last few days, there have been a lot of rumors floating around whether Pandya will leave Mumbai Indians at the end of this year or not.
After missing MI’s last two matches due to back spasms, there have also been reports that he has been unofficially sacked as MI captain. Now, Srikkanth has put forward his thoughts on how Pandya’s future could be at Mumbai Indians.
Hardik Pandya-MI saga
Hardik Pandya played for Mumbai Indians throughout his IPL career between 2015 and 2021 and won three IPL titles during this period. In 2022, he left MI to captain Gujarat Titans – one of the two new franchises introduced in the IPL that year.
In his first year as a franchise, Hardik led them to the IPL title. In his second, in 2023, Pandya led them to the top of the points table and finished runner-up in a very close final. Ahead of the 2024 season, MI decided to trade him.
Specifically, trade him as captain. Hardik’s re-entry into MI meant that Rohit Sharma, who had won five IPL titles as captain with the team, was sacked. This move did not go down well with the fans. That year, Pandya was heavily criticized in all the stadiums of the country and Mumbai Indians finished tenth.
He was retained as captain until 2025 and led them to the playoffs after initial failure. Last year, MI won just 1 of their first 5 matches and 7 of their last 9 to finish in the top four.
MI then went on to defeat GT in the Eliminator, but lost to Punjab Kings in Qualifier-2. In 2026, it ain’t pretty. Hardik Pandya had to sit through MI becoming one of the first teams to be eliminated from the playoff race in IPL 2026.
Due to a combination of illness and injury, Hardik Pandya has led Mumbai Indians in only 8 of their 11 matches so far. Especially under Pandya’s leadership, MI struggled and managed only 2 wins in these 8 matches.
Now, MI are ninth in the points table with just 3 wins from 11 matches, and can only play party-poopers to other teams in the remaining three matches.
“Where will Hardik Pandya go next year?”. – Srikanth
Kris Srikkanth went to his YouTube channel and talked about this issue. He said that since there has been no official announcement, all the deals have already been done and Hardik Pandya’s time with Mumbai Indians is coming to an end.
“It’s like there’s no news, no official updates from anyone. It’s like they’ve basically said, ‘You’re no longer needed, you can go.’ Actually, you also heard Hardik’s comments. Either they’ll release him, or they’ll just say, ‘Thanks, brother, thanks for everything,’ and move on.”
“Then the question becomes – where will he go next year? Will he be traded or go to the auction?” Srikanth said.
Srikkanth further said that it would be best for both the parties if Hardik parted ways with MI. He said, “The best thing for both parties is to say, ‘Boss, you go your way, I’ll go my way. We’ll meet somewhere.’
Hardik Pandya’s form in IPL 2026
Although Hardik Pandya has been criticized a lot due to his team’s poor form, it has mainly been increased due to his poor form with both bat and ball. In his 8 matches, Hardik has scored just 146 runs at an average of 20.85 and a strike rate of 136 – which is not exactly good for Hardik.
He has struggled even with the ball in hand. He has taken just 4 wickets at an average of 61.50 and an economy rate of around 12 runs per over. He took five wickets last year but has only 4 wickets in his account this entire season.
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