Delhi: The performance of Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026 was very shameful. The team could win only 4 out of 14 league matches. MI ended their campaign at ninth position in the points table. Fans and cricket experts did not expect such a performance from Mumbai at all, because on-paper this team looked to be the strongest among all the other 9 teams.

At the same time, before the end of the season, a big news is coming out about Hardik Pandya. According to the report of Indian Express, Pandya can be removed from the captaincy. Not only this, it is also finding it difficult to retain his place in the team. In this season of IPL, Pandya failed miserably both as a captain and as a player, due to which the fans as well as the team management are not happy with him. This is the reason why Pandya may have to lose the captaincy.

However, no hint has yet emerged regarding who will be given this responsibility after Pandya.

In this article we will mention those 3 reasons why MI should remove Pandya from the captaincy.

3 reasons why MI should remove Hardik Pandya from captaincy

1. It is becoming difficult to bear the pressure of captaincy

This season, it was clear from Pandya’s face that he was not able to focus on his game due to the pressure of captaincy. In this matter, he took wrong decisions on many occasions, which were not in the interest of the team. This also affected his batting and bowling. Before the start of the tournament, Pandya took part in the T20 World Cup 2026, in which he proved to be the biggest match winner for the team.

But Pandya could not show that kind of performance in IPL because he was feeling pressure.

2. Factionalism within the team and disintegration of the dressing room

Everything is not going well in the dressing room of Mumbai Indians ever since Hardik Pandya was made the captain. There was a huge lack of coordination between the senior players of the team and Hardik. Due to this sudden change in captaincy, an atmosphere of factionalism and disunity has clearly arisen within the team, due to which the mutual trust of the players has diminished.

The first job of a captain is to keep the team united, but here the atmosphere in the dressing room has become completely turbulent. In such a situation, it seems necessary to remove Hardik from the captaincy to bring back the team’s discipline and lost coordination.

3. Huge opposition from fans and loss of brand value

Ever since Hardik took over the captaincy in place of Rohit Sharma, he has had to face a lot of anger and booing from the fans not only on social media but also on the field. The fan-following of Mumbai Indians, which was built through years of hard work, has got a big dent in it as soon as Hardik became the captain.

This continuous opposition from the fans has not only affected Hardik’s own performance, but it also creates a mental pressure on the entire team. Apart from this, to prevent damage to the brand value and image of the franchise, the management may have to take a tough decision of change in captaincy.