The gold standard of the Indian Premier League is starting to look like a relic of the past. Mumbai Indians, who have slumped to ninth in the table with just two wins from eight games, are facing an identity crisis that threatens to derail their campaign in 2026. At the heart of the slump is the polarizing figure of Hardik Pandya, whose towering comeback has coincided with three years of stunning results. As the five-time champions stare down the barrel of another early exit, calls for a total structural reset, starting with the captaincy, are reaching a deafening crescendo.
Now former New Zealand pacer and noted commentator Simon Doull has suggested the unthinkable: it’s time for Mumbai Indians to hit the reset button, even if it means sacking their captain.
Hardik’s return home was supposed to usher in a new era of dominance. Instead, it was defined by individual struggle and collective decline. In 2024, in the middle of a a chorus of boos from his own fans at the Wankhede Stadiumhe managed a paltry 216 runs in 14 matches. While the team reached the play-offs in 2025, Hardik’s personal output remained stagnant at 224 runs.
In the 2026 season, the floor completely fell out. In seven matches, Hardik managed only 128 runs. His bowling, once a four-over spell, has disappeared; he claimed just four wickets at an economy rate of 12.26. Body language on the pitch tells the story of a leader who looks increasingly lost.
LET HIM GO
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Simon Doull claimed that if the franchise decides that Hardik is no longer the man to lead, they cannot afford to keep him in the team as a regular player given the current baggage.
“My point would be: who is your captain next year? If he changes something, who will be the captain next year? If it’s not Hardik Pandya, drop him,” Doull said afterwards. MI lost their home match against SRH despite posting 244 on the message board on Wednesday.
“Just because I don’t know how he’s going to do in an environment where he’s underperformed, his team underperformed for three years and then his job goes.”
Doull questioned whether Hardik could mentally return to the role of a specialist in the same dressing room.
“It might set him free, it might not. It might make him feel, ‘I didn’t fail.’ It could have gone either way. When fully fit, Hardik was one of the best all-rounders in the game. All I care about is if he is going to be the captain, is he willing to take a backseat, put in the hard work and come back and just be Hardik again – a great player?
PRIDE OF ALPHAS
The crux of the problem, according to Doull, lies in the fractured dynamic of the dressing room, which features alphas like Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah – all of whom have led India at various levels.
“I mentioned it was a bit like when they were in their prime before the new teams came in. It was like a pride of lions, wasn’t it? And Hardik was a cub. He was a cub that played a part in the pride of lions,” Doull said.
“He left, he did a great job at GT with a whole new franchise — a franchise that he could kind of own and control. He came back and basically tried to fight the king of pride for the reigning job, the king’s job. And it didn’t work. It just didn’t work.”
RESPONSIBILITY ABOVE
While Hardik is the face of the failure, Doull insists the blame must go beyond the captain’s tactical mistakes or the slump of the bat. The decision to disrupt a winning culture, bring back a former player and hand him the reins was a gamble taken by the highest level of the organization.
“There has to be some accountability from the top because the top made the decision. They gave him that responsibility and allowed him to come back to what they had was a very successful team and a successful franchise,” Doull noted.
With every home game that slips by, the worry in the owners’ box is palpable. MI’s shrewd management has looked uncharacteristically indecisive this season.
“It’s a very difficult room. It’s full of alphas,” Doull continued. “It’s a difficult room if things aren’t going well and everyone will be looking around — ‘I wonder if he could do a better job? I think I could do a better job.’ And that becomes a tough environment to be in. Those right at the top – the ownership, the manager, the director of cricket – have to take responsibility for what has happened in three years.”
As the mega auction for the 2028 cycle approaches, Mumbai Indians face a crossroads. Do they stick with the captaincy experiment that stalled, or do they admit that Hardik Homecoming was a mistake and rebuild pride from scratch? If it’s the latter, perhaps the most difficult call in franchise history is about to come.
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Issued by:
Akshay Ramesh
Published on:
30 Apr 2026 15:17 IST
