Hardik Pandya has reportedy informed the Mumbai Indians franchise that he is willing to part ways with the side after yet another miserable season as captain. The all-rounder moved back to MI in 2024 via a trade from GT, following which MI have finished at the bottom half of the points table in 2 out of 3 seasons. Now, a report claims that Pandya is completely exhausted, and has already expressed his interest to move on from the MI franchise.
Hardik Pandya wants to leave MI
As per news agency PTI, a source told the publication that Hardik Pandya was mentally stressed and completely exhausted, reaching a point where he had informed the decision makers that he wants to leave the team after MI failed to make it to the playoffs in IPL 2026. Pandya replaced Rohit as captain in 2024, a move that wasn’t recieved well by the MI fans. Now, after failing to get MI across the line in the current season as well, he has reportedly decided that his time at the franchise is done and dusted, and now wants to move on.
“Hardik was mentally stressed and completely exhausted. He had also sustained a back injury. In fact, once the play-off hopes were dashed, Hardik informed the decision-makers that he wouldn’t be staying back,” an IPL source told PTI.
Hardik sustained a ‘back spasm’ in between IPL 2026, which forced him to miss a few games. In his absence, Suryakumar Yadav led the side. However, what was mysterious was that Pandya batted at the nets at full swing when he was dubbed injured and posted a video of his training session on social media, triggering speculations of his rift with the franchise.
In 39 matches that Hardik has led MI, he has led the side to 15 wins while having lost 24 matches, with his win percentage of 38.46% falling way below the loss percentage of 61.53%. The source told PTI that that the MI dressing room that Hardik once left in in 2021 wasn’t the same in 2024, especially because senior players weren’t on the same page. The report claims that while Hardik expected the favour to be returned from senior players who sought his 100% effort in T20Is, it wasn’t returned, leading to him taking the decision.
“If results come despite divergent views, you still won’t feel frustrated. But when everyone pulls in different directions, after a point you don’t have the mental bandwidth to carry on. So, Hardik had decided mid-season that he wouldn’t be part of MI next season. One thing is for sure. He is done with MI. Closer to August, one might get some indication about what his next move will be,” the source added.
Taking about Hardik Pandya as a player, he endured one of the worst seasons of his IPL career in 2026. He scored just 146 runs in ten innings at an average of 22.88 and strike rate of 138.25. Before the last MI match, his strike rate was close to 128. With the ball, he managed only four wickets in nine innings while conceding runs at an economy rate of 11.42.
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