Former Team India selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth has criticized Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya for poor leadership in IPL 2026. Under Pandya’s captaincy, MI is ranked ninth in the points table.
The five-time champions are now almost out of the race for the playoffs in this year’s tournament. Srikkanth had specifically taken a dig at Pandya for his poor performance in MI’s defeat against Chennai Super Kings in Chennai on May 2.
Hardik Pandya failed against CSK
Hardik Pandya’s decision to bat first after winning the toss backfired as MI’s middle order was unable to build on the good start given by its top order. Pandya himself was at the forefront of the disaster as he scored 18 runs in 23 balls.
MI could only score 159/7 in their 20 overs. With the help of half-centuries from Ruturaj Gaikwad and Karthik Sharma, CSK achieved the target with 8 wickets remaining. Hardik Pandya failed to do wonders with the ball also.
He is a plastic captain- Kris Srikkanth
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Srikkanth criticized Hardik’s inability to bat in the middle overs.
He said, “Look at the numbers – 18 runs off 23 balls. What is this? He is a plastic captain. Look at that partnership – what was the intention? What was Hardik Pandya trying to do? If you check the number of dot balls in the middle overs, it is clear that there was no proper calculation or game awareness. The run-rate dropped very rapidly during that phase.”
“From about the 6th or 7th over, he started off at about 9 runs an over, but then it went down – 7, 7, an over of 13, then 10, then 6. After that, 5, 4, 3, 7, 4 and that’s where he lost it completely between overs 12 and 16. Even by the end, it was only 7 runs and 4 runs, while Hardik was still batting. “Honestly, I couldn’t understand what they were trying to do.” He added.
Srikkanth also pointed out how Pandya was caught out by the opposition bowlers and how the MI skipper introduced a serious weakness in his game. Srikkanth said, “They will not bowl in that slot again. They will close him down. They knew that if they bowled the length, he would shatter them. So, they would not bowl there.”
Bad form of Hardik Pandya and Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026
Not just Pandya, most of the other big stars of MI are struggling for form in IPL 2026. Big names like Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Verma have been performing poorly, and that has been compounded by the absence of Rohit Sharma due to injury.
Hardik has scored 146 runs in 8 matches this season at a strike rate of 136 and an average of 20. His highest score has also been just 40 runs. The situation with the ball has been even worse. Pandya has taken just 4 wickets at an incredible average of 61.5. His economy rate has also been around 12 runs per over. MI will take on Lucknow Supergiants in their next match on May 4.
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