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Former India offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin recently sat down to analyze what went wrong with Mumbai Indians and their star-studded line-up in IPL 2026.
After winning only 4 out of their 14 matches, MI escaped from the last position in the points table due to their better net run rate than Lucknow Super Giants.
The Hardik Pandya-led franchise failed to recreate last year’s magic, when the team recovered from winning just 1 of its first 5 matches and won 7 of its last 9 (including 6 in a row) to qualify for the playoffs. In fact, MI have made it to Qualifier 2.
Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026
MI had made an auspicious start to the season when they won the season-opener after a gap of 14 years, but it stopped there. MI lost each of their next four matches, and they were suddenly in trouble.
With the win against Gujarat Titans, the losing streak continued in three consecutive matches. MI’s time was running out and he was never found.
The crushing defeat to RCB on the last ball in Raipur confirmed the team’s exit for the third time in the last five IPL seasons. The team that won five trophies over the course of 8 seasons between 2013 and 2020 has now gone 6 consecutive seasons without winning one.
Injuries also played their role in stopping Mumbai Indians in 2026. Rohit Sharma could not play in the middle of the match due to toe and hamstring injury. Hardik Pandya could not play the last two matches due to back spasms.
It was revealed that Jasprit Bumrah was playing through an injury, while both Mitchell Santner and Quinton de Kock were ruled out for the entire season.
Ashwin analyzes MI’s problems
Ravichandran Ashwin took to his YouTube channel to analyze all the things that went right and wrong for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026.
Ashwin started with the big elephant in the room – Jasprit Bumrah. This year, in 13 matches, Bumrah took only 4 wickets and his bowling average was 102.50. Worst performance for any bowler in any T20 tournament, leave alone IPL.
Ashwin said, “This is the first time in the history of IPL that a bowler has scored an average of more than 100 after playing the entire season and that is Jasprit Bumrah. I don’t think anyone would have believed me if I had said this before the season.”
Ashwin also said that despite the ‘one family’ adjective, Mumbai Indians may consider parting ways with Trent Boult. Boult joins MI in 2025 for a price of Rs 12.50 crore.
He said, “I think they will release Trent Boult to free up their purse. I am sure of it. But apart from that, what other changes can they make? It is very risky because you have players with a pedigree, and if they want to play, it is not an easy decision to release them. The tag line of Mumbai Indians is ‘One Family’ and they live by it.”
Boult also could not perform well in the tournament and was eventually dropped from the playing eleven. In five matches, the Kiwi southpaw took just 2 wickets at a bowling average of 94 and an economy rate of over 11.
“This could hurt” – Ashwin on Hardik Pandya
Ashwin also revealed what he thinks was the reason for Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya’s poor form in the tournament.
Hardik Pandya scored only 206 runs in 10 matches at an average of 22.89 and strike rate of 138. With the ball, he took just 4 wickets at an average of around 65 and an economy of around 11.5.
Ashwin said that fatigue and/or injury could be the reason why Pandya is not able to get back to his spin-hitting form of the last few years.
Ashwin said, “Hardik used to bat at No. 4 and No. 5 for Gujarat Titans. He used to beat the spinners. But this time, it looks like he has a little problem with the hard length ball. I don’t know why. It could be fatigue or injury.”
He also gave his prediction for Mumbai Indians’ performance in IPL 2027. Ashwin said he would not be surprised if MI failed to perform in the tournament next year.
He said, “This Mumbai Indians team looked a bit strange. It can’t be easy. With the quality they have, maybe they can play well next year. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they find it difficult for another year too. It seems like a lot of guys are not performing at their best. I was surprised this year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they do average next year.”
Also read: Rohit Sharma ignored!: Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav honored amid IPL 2026