In the 19th season of the Indian Premier League, the league stage matches ended on May 24, in which the teams of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gujarat Titans, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals managed to secure their places for the playoffs. This season, most of the eyes were focused on the captaincy of Hardik Pandya, in which looking at the squad of Mumbai Indians, they were expected to reach the playoffs, but such a shameful performance was seen in the league stage which no one expected. Mumbai Indians finished at 9th position in the points table with 8 points. Now most eyes are focused on Hardik Pandya’s departure as captain, regarding which a big statement from Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard has come out after the last league match.
The kind of captaincy that was expected from Hardik was not the same.
After the defeat in the match against Rajasthan Royals, Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard, while speaking in the press conference, in response to a question regarding Hardik Pandya’s captaincy, said that Hardik did not get to see himself perform the way he was expected to perform as a captain. This was not as per the expectations of the management. It is clear that we tried to give him every opportunity as a captain so that he could be successful. However, you cannot put the entire blame on just one player for 10 losses in 14 matches, this is a lesson for all of us. We were all trying, but things did not go in our favor.
now is the time to improve
After the journey of Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2026 season ended at the league stage, it is now believed that many big changes are going to happen before the next year’s season, in which some players may also be released from the squad. Pollard further said in his statement that now is the time to improve and we will have to sit and discuss what can be better for the team for the next season. However, we cannot rush into this and we want to give everyone some time because this is not the time to take emotional decisions.
read this also
IPL Playoff Schedule: All 4 teams decided for the playoffs, note down the dates of the big matches.
Vaibhav Suryavanshi now creates history in IPL with fielding, 8 year old record destroyed
Latest Cricket News
SK Sharma is a content writer who writes on news, entertainment, and lifestyle topics. She has over four years of experience and is known for conveying information in simple and clear language.
