Hardik Pandya (Image credit: BCCI/IPL)
New Delhi: Mumbai Indians have endured a disappointing IPL 2026 season and even their hopes of a winning signing failed to materialize as the five-time champions suffered another defeat in their final match in the league stage.Mumbai Indians are ninth in the 10-team points table after losing to Rajasthan Royals by 30 points in their last league match of the season. It was Michigan’s 10th defeat in 14 games during a forgettable season.
After the loss, Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard admitted that skipper Hardik Pandya’s tenure did not unfold the way the player or the franchise would have wanted.“From a leadership point of view for Hardik, yes, things did not go the way he wanted him to as an individual,” Pollard said after the match.“Things may not have gone the way we wanted as a management staff. But one thing (you should) know is that we did everything we could to give him the best opportunity to lead the franchise, and do a good job.”Pollard insisted that the disappointing season could not be blamed on one individual and described it as a collective failure for the entire Mumbai Indians outfit.“No one is going to sit here and point fingers. When you lose, especially, you have to look at it from a collective perspective.
You win some and you lose some. But at the end of the day, I won’t question certain things.”“He (Pandya) was trying, we were all trying, and it didn’t work out for us. You sit and talk (and) see what’s best. You never know what’s going to happen. For us, let’s lick our wounds at (this) time and hope we come back stronger in the 12 months,” Pollard added.When asked if Mumbai Indians needed a restart given the number of senior players in the squad, Pollard said the franchise would first take time to assess what went wrong before making any decisions.“Right now is not the time and place to talk about this,” he said.“All of these things are going to be kind of emotional decisions and thinking about every aspect of what’s required. Everyone needs that time and space to sit down and remember and get a fair assessment in terms of where it all went wrong for us.”“This is where the decision-making process will take place best. If you sit here now and say you need to do this, you need to do this, that would be irresponsible from the administration’s point of view,” he added.Mumbai Indians finished third in IPL 2025, but the 2026 season has seen a major decline for one of the tournament’s most successful franchises.