Former Team India captain Kris Srikkanth said that Mumbai Indians (MI) should change their captain before the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season. Srikkanth urged the franchise management to replace Hardik Pandya with T20 World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav to lead the team.
MI will enter the upcoming season with strong players like Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Tilak Verma. However, the five-time champions have not captured a championship title since 2020. MI finished last in 2024 after being knocked out in Qualifier 2 against Punjab Kings last year.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Kris Srikkanth talked about the captaincy dilemma at Mumbai Indians. He said that Suryakumar Yadav can bring a much needed change in destiny.
“He, the franchise owners and the upper level team management with Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya have to come together again and get it right again,” Srikkanth said.
“They should ask Surya to lead this year to see if there is a change in fortunes. They can appoint Surya as captain anytime. It is not necessary that they announce it now.”
Suryakumar has been delivering memorable performances as captain, leading India to the T20 World Cup 2026 title earlier this month. Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya has endured two disappointing seasons at the helm of the franchise.
Hardik Pandya is a good captain but… – Kris Srikkanth
Srikkanth also highlighted the strangeness of playing under two World Cup-winning captains under Hardik Pandya. He said Suryakumar Yadav remains the most obvious leadership choice from an outside perspective.
“It’s a strange situation. Hardik Pandya is a good captain. But, yes, they now have two T20 World Cup-winning captains playing under them. 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 that could be a franchise policy,” he added.
Hardik has already proved his credentials as a leader in the IPL. He led Gujarat Titans to the title in his debut season in 2022 and has maintained a strong overall record, winning 35 of his 60 matches as captain.
Surya, on the other hand, has performed exceptionally well in the T20I format, winning 40 out of 52 matches as India captain, including the recent World Cup win. Hardik has also delivered solid results for India in T20Is and has registered 10 wins in 16 matches as captain.
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