- Kieron Pollard called MI’s IPL 2026 campaign disappointing.
- Mumbai Indians finished ninth this year, winning just 4 out of 14 games.
- Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have come in for criticism during the season.
The Mumbai Indians haven’t had the most memorable of seasons in the IPL. They finished ninth in the points table with just four wins in 14 matches. MI batting coach Kieron Pollard, however, refuses to ‘point fingers’ at anyone in the aftermath.
Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya has copped plenty of criticism during the campaign, but Pollard believes right now isn’t the ‘time or place’ to review the season yet.
“It has been disappointing” – Kieron Pollard on MI’s IPL 2026 campaign
MI ended their season with a 30-run defeat to Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Their final match was just another representation of what has been a bit of a disastrous season.
Pollard believes it has been a season of ‘what-ifs’, with things not having gone their way at all. Speaking to the press after yesterday’s match, here’s what he had to say:
“If this had happened, if we had done this, if we had done that, if we had played this one, if we had batted, it’s a bit of that. Overall, it has been disappointing for all of us as Mumbai Indians.
“I’m sure the fans and everyone would have felt the same and there’s no hiding from that. We weren’t good the entire tournament. We weren’t able to sort of string together wins and use the momentum when we got it.”
In Pollard’s opinion though, it wasn’t the time or the place for a post-mortem of the campaign. But he did assure the members of the media present that there would be a thorough review at the right time.
“Right now is not the time and place to talk about that (review). All these things will be sort of emotional decisions and thinking of every aspect of what’s needed. Everyone needs that time and space to go, sit down, recollect, have a fair idea and assessment as to where it went wrong for us.
“That’s where better decision-making is going to come about. If you sit here right now and say you need to do this, you need to do that, I think that will be irresponsible from a management perspective.”
When asked about the five-time champions not winning a title in the last six years, he added:
“Guys are going to sit back and actually think about what’s needed. It has been a while since we won the championship and that’s something that we have accepted as a team. And I said, another disappointing campaign adding to what would have transpired before. So deep thinking is going to go into it.”
“No one is going to point fingers” – Pollard on Hardik Pandya’s captaincy
Over the season, questions have popped up about Hardik Pandya’s captaincy and Jasprit Bumrah’s form and rightfully so. The Mumbai Indians have finished in the bottom two in two of the three seasons since Pandya took over.
In that time, MI have won just 15 of their 39 matches. Their 38.5% win rate under Pandya is MI’s lowest under any captain in the IPL to have led them in more than one game. However, Pollard defended the skipper, saying nobody would put the blame solely on him.
“From a leadership perspective, Hardik, yes, it has not gone maybe as well as he would have wanted as an individual. But one thing you know is that we’d have tried each and everything to give him the best opportunity to lead the franchise and do well.
“And again, no one is going to sit here and point fingers. I think when you lose, you have to look at it from a collective perspective. So you win some, you lose some. He was trying, we all were trying and it just didn’t work out for us.”
Jasprit Bumrah, on the other hand, has faced criticism for an underwhelming campaign. Bumrah’s four wickets this season is his lowest such tally in a single season since 2015, when he got three wickets in four games. Pollard opened up a little bit on Bumrah’s fitness issues in the IPL this term. He said:
“To be honest, he came in with a bit of a niggle after the (T20) World Cup. We tried to manage it. He wasn’t his best self in terms of fitness perspective and all of that. But he was able to come and try to deliver.”
MI have found themselves in unfamiliar territory in recent years, reaching the playoffs just twice in six seasons. One would expect a team like Mumbai to respond to a situation like that strongly. The next IPL auction could prove to be very crucial and MI’s actions leading up to and during it will decide just where they are this time next season.
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