Mumbai Indians\u2019 captaincy and squad-building questions are now likely to grow louder after the franchise ended the IPL 2026 season in ninth place, a finish that brought fresh scrutiny on Hardik Pandya\u2019s time as skipper. Hardik, who was expected to steer the side both in the dressing room and on the field, struggled to deliver consistently, leaving MI feeling that they didn\u2019t get the performances they needed with the bat or the ball. Speaking at the press conference following Mumbai\u2019s loss to the Rajasthan Royals in their last match of the campaign on Sunday, batting coach Kieron Pollard acknowledged that the leadership spell \u201chas not gone as well\u201d as the team would have wanted.<\/p>\n
Pollard was candid about the impact of the season on the group\u2019s plans, while also refusing to frame the failures as the work of a single individual. \u201cFrom a leadership perspective on Hardik, yes, it has not gone as well as he would have wanted as an individual,\u201d Pollard said. He added that the responsibility could not be pinned solely on the captain, stressing that the franchise\u2019s collective process did not reach the standard required. \u201cIt might not have gone how we would have wanted as a management staff,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut one thing you (should) know that we have tried each and everything to give him the best opportunity to lead the franchise, to do well.\u201d Pollard then underlined that, in his view, the outcome was a shared shortcoming. \u201cPollard said it was a collective failure of the Mumbai Indians group.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked about whether any blame should be directed at specific people, Pollard said he would rather take a broader view of what went wrong. \u201cNo one is going to sit here and put blame on point fingers. When you lose, especially, you have to look at it from a collective perspective. You win some, you lose some,\u201d he said. \u201cBut, at the end of the day, I wouldn\u2019t question certain things.\u201d He maintained that everyone associated with the team tried, but results did not follow. \u201cHe (Pandya) was trying; we all were trying, and it just didn\u2019t work out for us,\u201d Pollard added. \u201cYou sit, you talk, (and) see what is (for the) best. Never know what is going to happen. For us, let us just lick our wounds in (this) time and hopefully come back stronger in the 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pollard also indicated that changes to the squad are likely ahead of the next season, but he pushed back against any idea of acting in haste. Asked whether MI required a \u201creboot\u201d given the number of senior players in the side, he said it was too soon to start making emotional calls. \u201cRight now, is not the time and place to talk about that,\u201d Pollard replied. He argued that any adjustments must be based on careful evaluation rather than immediate reactions. \u201cAll these things would be sort of emotional decisions and thinking of every aspect of what is needed,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone needs that time and space to go sit down, recollect, have a fair assessment as to where everything actually went wrong for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Pollard, taking time is the only way to ensure more sound decision-making. \u201cThat is 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, that would be irresponsible from a management perspective,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The press conference also turned to MI\u2019s decision to rest Jasprit Bumrah for Sunday\u2019s match. Pollard described the call as the \u201csmarter option,\u201d explaining that the context of the final game of the season and Bumrah\u2019s role in the team influenced the thinking. \u201cJasprit is an individual who wears his heart on his sleeve,\u201d Pollard said. \u201cWhen you look at this match today, you\u2019re going to get two points if you play (well). Then what\u2019s that going to do for us if we finish on a win, finish on a high?\u201d<\/p>\n
He further clarified that selection decisions are not always about what seems best on paper, but about what is right at that moment for both the player and the franchise. \u201cSometimes, you need to understand the player, understand what is necessary at this point in time,\u201d Pollard said. \u201cFrom a selection perspective, we didn\u2019t know that today would have been right for him to play with the other guys on the bench.\u201d Pollard pointed to MI\u2019s depth, adding that the team is also in the process of building younger talent. \u201cWe have depth and we are building young guys, so trying something different. I don\u2019t see anything wrong with that from our perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pollard stressed that the match was the last of the season and that the situation did not demand a risk-heavy approach with a player he described as a prized asset for Indian cricket. \u201cLet\u2019s not look too much into that. It\u2019s the last game of the season,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not that we could have qualified as well, and he is a prized possession for Indian cricket. Sometimes you have to take the smarter option.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back on the campaign, Pollard framed MI\u2019s season as a recurring story of missed momentum and unresolved \u201cwhat-ifs,\u201d particularly for a side that has won the title five times. \u201cIt has been a season of what-ifs and overall disappointing for all of us,\u201d he said. \u201cEveryone would have felt the same way. There\u2019s no hiding from that. We weren\u2019t good throughout the entire tournament.\u201d He added that the team could not string together results in the periods when it needed to convert good phases into sustained runs. \u201cWe weren\u2019t able to string together wins and use the momentum when we got it,\u201d Pollard said. \u201cAt the end of it, when you look at it rationally, we got the position that we deserved in terms of the type of cricket that we played throughout the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mumbai Indians\u2019 captaincy and squad-building questions are now likely to grow louder after the franchise ended the IPL 2026 season in ninth place, a finish…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":12080,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"IPL 2026: Pollard Warns Hardik\u2019s MI Captaincy Future","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Mumbai Indians\u2019 slump to ninth place sparks fresh doubts over Hardik Pandya\u2019s captaincy\u2014Pollard hints his future with MI could be uncertain.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n