table of contents
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has made a bold statement on Hardik Pandya’s future with Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). After another disappointing IPL season, Hardik Pandya’s future with the franchise has now become a big talking point.
Mumbai Indians (MI) brought back Hardik ahead of IPL 2024 and also gave him the captaincy, removing Rohit Sharma from the role. But things haven’t really gone MI’s way since then. They finished bottom in 2024 and then reached Qualifier 2 in 2025 and this season, they missed out on the playoffs in the ongoing 2026 season.
Michael Vaughan wants Mumbai Indians to move on from Hardik Pandya
Following another defeat for MI in the ongoing IPL 2026 against KKR, Michael Vaughan has made a shocking suggestion that Mumbai Indians should move on from Hardik ahead of the next season and try to rebuild the team with a fresh approach.
Also read: Rohit Sharma hid IPL 2026 injury from BCCI, 2027 World Cup selection in doubt
Vaughan pointed out that MI currently has a lot of strong personalities in the dressing room, which has made things more complicated for Pandya.
Michael Vaughan said on Cricbuzz: “Release him. I’ve seen a lot of things. I haven’t really seen the dynamics of bringing him back. He was doing a good job with Gujarat Titans and won titles there with a different group of players and a different coach. I think there are too many chefs in the Mumbai kitchen, so I would take one chef out.”
Replace Hardik Pandya with Cameron Green: Michael Vaughan
Vaughan also suggested Mumbai Indians to trade Hardik Pandya to KKR and bring back Cameron Green ahead of the IPL 2027 mega auction.
The cricket pundit said, “Replace him with Cameron Green. If he wants to remain captain, it would be better if he stays with new captains. Maybe KKR. Maybe they are also looking for a captain. That’s why Cameron comes to Mumbai; someone else will captain Mumbai. Hardik goes to KKR, it’s a fresh start for him as captain.”
Also read: Former RCB star calls Ajit Agarkar ‘nonsense’ for ignoring Mohammed Shami from Afghanistan series
Joy Bhattacharya says Hardik-MI partnership has failed
Meanwhile, former KKR team director Joy Bhattacharya also feels that the Hardik-Mumbai partnership is not helping either side anymore.
“Release him. It’s been three seasons with him and obviously the experiment didn’t work. It doesn’t make sense. It will be difficult for him to just play as a player. It will be better for both Mumbai and Hardik,” Bhattacharya said.
It is being said that Ajinkya Rahane may be one of the three captains who may lose the captaincy after this season. However, Cameron Green is unlikely to be released by KKR. The Australian all-rounder was bought last year for a huge sum of Rs 25.20 crore.
Green had a bad start in IPL 2026 but later made a strong comeback. So far, he has scored 316 runs in 13 innings with two half-centuries and has also taken seven wickets for KKR. While MI crashed out of the playoff race, KKR also almost lost their chance to make the playoffs despite their late struggles this season.
