Mumbai Indians suffer a shocking IPL 2026 collapse after early promise, becoming the second team eliminated despite a strong Indian core featuring Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah.
Mumbai Indians' Shardul Thakur with captain Hardik Pandya and teammates. (Photo: IANS)
From being considered the title contenders to becoming the second team to be eliminated from the tournament after losing a close encounter with Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Raipur on Sunday.
The Mumbai Indians’ 2026 IPL journey never received a boost; the team, once known for their fighting spirit and ability to make comebacks from difficult situations to win trophies, has now lost that identity.
Advertisement
The team with the strongest Indian core, which looked dangerous on paper, and every cricket expert thought that this team would definitely play the playoffs without any doubt, is right now placed at the 9th position in the points table.
Advertisement
The most successful teams in the history of the IPL, 5 times champions, their last trophy came in 2020, winning it back-to-back, becoming the only team after Chennai Super Kings to defend their title. Their 2026 season started with a win against Kolkata Knight Riders; against Kolkata Knight Riders, they broke a massive 14-year jinx by winning a season opener for the first time since 2012.
Ahead of the 2024 season, the Mumbai Indians announced that they have traded Hardik Pandya from the Gujarat Titans, replacing Rohit Sharma as the captain of the franchise. The move was not welcomed by the fans and experts.
Within hours of the captaincy news, MI reportedly lost over 400,000 followers on X (Twitter) and another 200,000 on Instagram. Fans across India, including those at MI’s home ground, the Wankhede Stadium, roundly booed Hardik during the 2024 season.
At one toss, presenter Sanjay Manjrekar had to tell the crowd to “behave”. Fans of Gujarat Titans (GT) felt betrayed that their title-winning captain left, while MI fans felt Rohit Sharma—the “Mumbai Cha Raja”—had been disrespected.
The 2024 season was a disaster for Hardik Pandya; the team finished at the bottom of the table, and he himself struggled with both bat and ball, managing only 214 runs at an average of 18 and taking 11 wickets at an economy of almost 11.
Pandya faced significant criticism for his bowling strategies, specifically for taking the new ball himself early in the season rather than utilising Jasprit Bumrah. There were also rumours that the MI dressing room is divided into two groups, one supporting current captain Pandya and the other former captain Rohit Sharma.
After winning the T20 World Cup for India in 2024, Pandya did win the hearts of both Indian and Mumbai Indian fans with his performance throughout the tournament. And got a very happy reception from the crowd in the 2025 season.
From losing the first four matches of the tournament to playing the Eliminator, Mumbai made a strong comeback along with their captain Hardik Pandya after a disastrous 2024 season. But the 2026 season is turning out to be a bigger disaster for the team as they fail to win the trophy this season and become the second team to get eliminated. And the bigger mystery is their captain, Hardik Pandya; with no performance from either bat or ball, he managed to take just 4 wickets in 8 matches and scored 146 runs.
After coming from a good T20 World Cup performance, Pandya failed to replicate the same for Mumbai Indians; even as a captain, he looks clueless. There are rumours that the Mumbai Indians are ready to sack Pandya as captain; in the last two games he has also not been seen with the team.
When your team has players like Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma, a very strong Indian core, regulars in the national side, you are confident that out of these 5 any 3 will definitely win you matches on their own.
But this season the story is not as promising as it should be; the strong Indian core failed to impress. Apart from Rohit Sharma, who suffered a mid-season hamstring injury that forced him to miss several matches, Rohit’s impact at the top of the order has been a major highlight for the Mumbai Indians this year, scoring 243 runs at an average of 49.
It took Jasprit Bumrah six matches to pick up his wicket against Gujarat Titans, and so far he has taken only 3 wickets in 11 matches, one of his worst seasons. Indian T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav was already on the radar for not performing in the recently concluded World Cup, and everyone hoped that SKY would make a comeback in the IPL, but our very own Mr 360 has failed miserably with the bat, not even scoring 200 runs so far in the tournament, and has become a walking wicket for the opponents. Tilak Varma, apart from his century against GT, has also not performed with the bat; no notable performance has been seen from both Indian T20I stars.
On top of that, other key players like Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, captain Hardik Pandya, and Quinton de Kock also struggled with injuries. Santner was ruled out for the entire season, which was a massive setback. And other Indian players like Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur have also failed to perform for the team.
MI had a core team that hardly ever changed, whether you look at the years they won the championship or advanced to the playoffs. This time, Mahela Jayawardene and the management were unable to settle on a final XI despite having a bench full of elite players. They would entirely reorganise the team after each defeat. The Mumbai Indians have utilised 24 players this season, more than any other team in the tournament’s history. The team’s lack of clarity and lack of a plan are demonstrated by the turmoil and uncertainty caused by a lot of cutting and shifting. Four different opening pairs have been used by MI.
The Mumbai Indians are left with three matches in their fixture, so what should they do? Head coach Mahela Jayawardene called their season ‘disappointing’; he also said, ‘I would have loved to have our main core guys consistently being out there.’ But there are no excuses. I think we had a quality squad. It’s just that we were not good enough overall.” Jaywardene also backed their senior pros Pandya and SKY.
Many cricketing experts have also suggested that Mumbai Indians should move on from Hardik Pandya and build their team around either Suryakumar Yadav or Jasprit Bumrah. They have also suggested dropping big-money buys like Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar.
The franchise should back young Indian talents in the remaining matches and build their team around them in the 2027 IPL Auction, much like Chennai Super Kings did in the 2025 season. After getting eliminated, CSK gave opportunities to young talents like Ayush Mhatre and Urvil Patel, and both have performed well this season.
Advertisement
