Release Hardik Pandya: Mumbai Indians told to reset after 3 mellow years in IPL
Simon Doull has urged Mumbai Indians to consider releasing Hardik Pandya if they don't think he will be able to lead the team into the next cycle. Mumbai Indians have had a tough time in IPL 2026. They are rooted to the 9th spot with just two wins in eight games.
The Gold Standard of the Indian Premier League is beginning to look like a relic of the past. Slumped at 9th in the table with just two wins from eight matches, the Mumbai Indians are facing a crisis of identity that threatens to derail their 2026 campaign. At the heart of this decline is the polarising figure of Hardik Pandya, whose high-profile return has coincided with three years of underwhelming results. As the five-time champions stare down the barrel of another early exit, the calls for a total structural reset, starting with the captain, are reaching a deafening crescendo.
Now, former New Zealand pacer and noted commentator Simon Doull has suggested the unthinkable: it is time for Mumbai Indians to hit the reset button, even if it means releasing their captain.
Hardik’s homecoming was supposed to usher in a new era of dominance. Instead, it has been defined by individual struggle and collective decline. In 2024, amidst a chorus of boos from his own fans at the Wankhede Stadium, he managed a paltry 216 runs in 14 games. While the team reached the playoffs in 2025, Hardik’s personal output remained stagnant at 224 runs.
The 2026 season has seen the floor drop out entirely. In seven matches, Hardik has managed only 128 runs. His bowling, once a bankable four-over spell, has vanished; he has claimed just four wickets at a concerning economy rate of 12.26. On the field, the body language tells a story of a leader who looks increasingly lost.
RELEASE HIM
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Simon Doull argued that if the franchise decides Hardik is no longer the man to lead, they cannot afford to keep him in the squad as a rank-and-file player given the current baggage.
“My point would be: who is your captain next year? If they are going to change something, who is going to be the captain next year? If it is not going to be Hardik Pandya, release him,” Doull said after MI lost their home game to SRH despite posting 244 on the board on Wednesday.
“Only because I don't know how he will perform in an environment where he has underperformed, his team has underperformed for three years, and then his job goes.”
Doull questioned whether Hardik could mentally pivot back to being a specialist player within the same dressing room.
“It might free him up, it might not. It might make him feel, 'I have failed.' It could go either way. When fully fit, Hardik has been one of the best all-rounders in the game. My only point is, if he is going to be the captain, is he willing to take the backseat, put in the hard work, and come back and just be Hardik-the great player-yet again?"
A PRIDE OF ALPHAS
The core of the issue, according to Doull, lies in the fractured dynamics of a dressing room that features alpha personalities like Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah—all of whom have led India at various levels.
“I mentioned it was a bit like when they were in their pomp, before the new teams came in. It was like a pride of lions, right? And Hardik was a cub. He was a cub that played a role in the pride of lions,” Doull said.
“He went away, did a great job at GT with a very new franchise—a franchise he could kind of own and control. He came back and basically tried to fight the king of the pride for the reigning job, for the king’s job. And it hasn’t worked. It just has not worked.”
ACCOUNTABILITY AT THE TOP
While Hardik is the face of the failure, Doull insists the blame must extend beyond the captain’s tactical blunders or batting slump. The decision to disrupt a winning culture to bring back a former player and hand him the reins was a gamble taken by the very top tier of the organisation.
“There’s got to be some accountability from the very top, because the very top made that decision. They gave him that responsibility, and they allowed him to come back into what they had was a very successful team and a successful franchise,” Doull noted.
With every home game that slips away, the concern in the owners' box is palpable. The shrewd MI management has looked uncharacteristically indecisive this season.
“It’s a very difficult room. It’s full of alphas,” Doull continued. “It’s a difficult room if things aren’t going well, and everybody will be looking around—‘I wonder if he’d do a better job? I reckon I could do a better job.’ And it becomes a hard environment to be in. Those right at the top—ownership, the manager, the director of cricket—they’ve got to take responsibility for what has happened over three years.”.
As the mega auction looms for the 2028 cycle, Mumbai Indians face a crossroads. Do they persist with a captaincy experiment that has stalled, or do they admit the Hardik Homecoming was a mistake and rebuild the pride from scratch? If the latter, the most difficult phone call in the franchise's history may be coming soon.
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