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Mumbai Indians (MI) faced a lot of criticism after they appointed Hardik Pandya as Rohit Sharma's sucessor to lead the franchise ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. After the franchise's decision, Hardik also faced a lot of backlash from the fans to leading the side. Ahead of the IPL 2026, for the Indian batter, Kris Srikkanth has suggested that skipper Hardik Pandya should hand over the leadership to Suryakumar Yadav.
However, things haven’t gone as expected. MI finished at the bottom of the table in 2024, which led to criticism from fans. They improved in 2025 by reaching the playoffs, but since they haven’t won a trophy again, the debate over leadership has continued into the new season.
Why Hardik should hand over MI captaincy to Suryakumar Yadav
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Srikkanth said the team management should sit together and sort out the situation. He pointed out that having two experienced leaders, Rohit and Suryakumar, playing under Hardik makes the setup unusual.
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"They have to come together again, the franchise owners and the team management with Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya, and set this right again. They should ask Surya to lead this year to see if there is a change of luck. They can always appoint Surya as the captain anytime. They don't need to announce it right now. It's a funny situation. Hardik Pandya is a good captain. But, yes, they have two T20 World Cup-winning captains playing under him now. It's some internal policy within their setup that they have to sort out. From the outside, the obvious choice should be Suryakumar Yadav. But this might be a franchise policy," said Srikkanth.
He also said that Hardik should think about stepping aside on his own and allow Suryakumar to take over, which could help clear up the confusion.
"It's a strange situation, as Hardik played under Rohit and Surya to help India win the World Cup. Otherwise, Hardik should himself say no to captaincy and allow Surya to lead. If Hardik himself says this to the management, things will get resolved. He should say, 'Let Surya lead and I'll support'. That's one way of solving it," Srikkanth explained.
MI IPL 2026 schedule
| Match | Date | Time (IST) | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| MI vs KKR | March 29 | 7:30 PM | Wankhede Stadium |
| DC vs MI | April 4 | 3:30 PM | Arun Jaitley Stadium |
| RR vs MI | April 7 | 7:30 PM | Barsapara Cricket Stadium |
| MI vs RCB | April 12 | 7:30 PM | Wankhede Stadium |
MI's squad for IPL 2026
Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ryan Rickleton, Robin Minz, Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Naman Dhir, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Allah Ghafanzar, Ashwani Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa, Sherfane Rutherford, Mayank Markande, Shardul Thakur, Quinton de Kock, Mohammad Izhar, Danish Malewar, Atharva Ankolekar, Mayank Rawat.
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