Hardik Pandya missed the important match of Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL 2026 season. Last night, at the Wankhede Cricket Stadium, MI, led by stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav, defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and kept themselves in the title race.
Mumbai Indians is one of the most successful teams In the Indian Premier League. But, with Hardik Pandya as the captain for the last three seasons, the team has failed to perform as per its reputation. This season, MI’s chances of qualifying for the play-offs are quite slim. Amid the poor form, a large section of MI followers are asking the team management to remove Pandya from the leadership role.
Wasim Jaffer did not want to blame only Hardik Pandya
Former opener of Team India Wasim Jaffer Says that it would be wrong to blame only Hardik Pandya for the team’s struggling phase, because this season there are many players in the team who have not performed as per expectations, which has affected the team’s progress in IPL 2026.
Jaffer points out that the current season has already crossed its halfway mark, so there is no possibility of seeing a change in the leadership role at Mumbai Indians.
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He has performed poorly: Jaffer
“All these decisions are taken after the tournament. No one thinks about it in the middle of the tournament. Mumbai Indians’ journey is just mathematically survival; they are also almost out of the tournament,” Jaffer said in his YouTube video.
“He has performed poorly, but you can’t say this team has performed poorly because of Hardik Pandya. Individual players have also not played well, and there have been injury problems as well. Rohit got injured at the wrong time and Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Trent Boult have struggled for form,” he said.
Will Pandya play in RCB vs MI IPL 2026 match in Raipur?
There was news that Pandya had missed the match against Lucknow Super Giants Due to back spasm. However, there is not much information about the status of the MI captain. After the match, Ryan Rickelton was asked about Pandya’s injury. The MI opener said that he was not aware of the severity of his back spasms.
“I don’t know when he’s expected to be back. I found out this afternoon that he has back spasms. I don’t know how serious the injury is or how bad it is. I’m not sure how he’s feeling, but I’m sure he’ll be with us again when we go to Raipur this week,” Ryan Rickelton told the media.
As of now, it is not clear whether Hardik Pandya will feature in MI’s next IPL 2026 match or not. MI to face Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 10 Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium In new Raipur. The franchise in blue is in 9th place before the matchth With 6 points in 10 games in the 10-team league and a net run rate of -0.649.
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