At a glance:
- Ravichandran Ashwin defended Hardik Pandya amid Mumbai Indians’ poor IPL 2026 campaign.
- Ashwin said blaming only the captain is unfair because the entire team has underperformed this season.
- Ashwin noted the pressure of replacing Rohit Sharma as MI captain, considering Rohit’s legacy and fan following.
Despite missing his team’s most recent games this month, Hardik Pandya has consistently faced harsh criticism due to the Mumbai Indians’ disappointing IPL 2026 campaign. Before Hardik was sidelined by an injury earlier this month, MI lost seven of the nine games he was in charge of.
Under two different captains, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah, Mumbai has won two of the last three games in his absence. Bumrah managed Thursday’s victory against the Punjab Kings in Dharamsala, while Suryakumar guided the team to victories and losses over the Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Ashwin defends Hardik’s leadership
Hardik’s captaincy has been under more criticism in recent weeks because of rumours that the MI camp is once again experiencing internal conflicts. Despite Hardik’s underwhelming performance, former India teammate R Ashwin provided some support.
“Honestly, when you have seasons like this, to pin the blame on the captain is quite unfair. Nobody has turned up. The team has failed to turn up and for Hardik to take the blame on himself is… you’re asking him to do a little too much.
“He was there at Gujarat Titans. Had two fabulous seasons. So clearly as a leader he did something right there,” Ashwin said on ESPNcricinfo.
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Poor bowling hurt Mumbai Indians, says Ashwin
With the exception of last year’s Playoffs result, the five-time champions have ended in the bottom half twice since Hardik took over as MI captain in place of Rohit Sharma.
“When he returned to Mumbai Indians, he had to deal with quite a bit. It’s not easy to replace an incumbent Indian captain, white-ball captain, such as Rohit Sharma. Five [six] titles in the IPL.
“He’s won a T20 World Cup. And Hardik comes and replaces him. You’ve got a lot of fandom going around in the country. You should have a thick skin to survive the social media these days,” Ashwin added.
In addition to some questionable calls from Hardik, Ashwin blamed Mumbai’s downfall on poor bowling.
“Bowling has leaked [runs in] every direction. Every single time an over is bowled for six or seven runs, in comes a 15-run over. So what do you do as a captain? And sure, he’s made some calls that have been debatable.
“[But] captaincy is the result of how your team is making you look. So which is why I believe when you have a good season, don’t give too much credit to a captain. When you have a bad season, don’t pin it on him,” Ashwin said.
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