New Delhi: Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya returned to full training mode on Tuesday, clocking more than three hours at Reliance Corporate Park. The timing, however, has sparked plenty of questions. Hardik missed Mumbai’s two most recent IPL games against Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, with a back spasm cited as the reason, and he is now considered unlikely to reunite with the team for the match against Punjab Kings in Dharamsala on Thursday.
While the franchise narrative remains that the all-rounder is working his way back from the back issue, the intensity of the session—captured in a couple of videos he later shared online—has inevitably raised eyebrows. Reports suggested that things in the dressing room have not been entirely smooth, and Hardik’s absence from on-field action has only added weight to those concerns. Mumbai arrived in Dharamsala from Chandigarh on Tuesday afternoon, but neither Hardik nor the stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav travelled with that group.
Suryakumar, it is understood, has very recently been blessed with a baby girl and returned to Mumbai. He, along with Hardik and a few other players, reportedly left for home right after Mumbai’s Sunday clash in Raipur. The rest of the squad moved to Chandigarh and then continued onwards to Dharamsala, setting up a clear separation between those who travelled with the main group and those who did not.
How quickly Suryakumar will be able to rejoin the travelling unit remains unclear, though there is a precedent in his involvement in the playing group—he had connected with the team on match day during the fixture against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The franchise will be hoping to have him back closer to the contest versus Punjab Kings in Dharamsala.
On the performance front, Mumbai Indians are enduring a difficult run in IPL 2026, sitting in ninth place on the points table. With the season not going as planned, the upcoming period offers them a chance to recalibrate—testing squad depth while also giving some of their headline names a breather after inconsistent showings.
Both Suryakumar and Tilak Varma, despite flashes of form—including one hundred and one half-century—have had broadly underwhelming returns with the bat. There is also growing sentiment that Jasprit Bumrah deserves rest after having to fight a largely solitary battle for wickets this edition. Head coach Mahela Jayawardene has continued to support his “core players,” but it now appears the moment may be right to evaluate other options who can deliver reliably for the franchise in future campaigns.
