Former India chief selector K Srikkanth reckons that Hardik Pandya should give up Mumbai Indians (MI) captaincy to Suryakumar Yadav in IPL 2026. His remarks come after the latter led India to their historic 3rd T20 World Cup title earlier this month. Pandya took over the reins of MI back in IPL 2024 when he was traded from Gujarat Titans and replaced Rohit Sharma as captain, which wasn’t received well by fans.
‘Hardik should say no to captaincy’
Speaking on a video on his YouTube channel, Srikkanth opined that Hardik himself should say no to MI captaincy in IPL 2026 and should instead opt to play under the T20 World Cup-winning captains Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav. Under the all-rounder, MI have 10th on the points table in 2024 and 4th in IPL 2025. While Pandya has grown leaps and bounds as the MI skipper over the last two years, he still has two T20 WC winning captains playing under him.
“It’s a strange situation as Hardik played under Rohit and Surya to win India the World Cup. Otherwise, Hardik should himself say no to captaincy and allow Surya to lead. If Hardik himself says this to the management, things will get resolved. He should say, ‘Let Surya lead and I’ll support’. That’s one way of solving it,” Srikkanth said.
Full Schedule for MI
| Date | Teams | Venue | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29 March, 2026 | MI vs KKR | Mumbai | 7.30 PM IST |
| 4th April, 2026 | DC vs MI | Delhi | 3.30 PM IST |
| 7th April, 2026 | RR vs MI | Guwahati | 7.30 PM IST |
| 12th April, 2026 | MI vs CSK | Mumbai | 7.30 PM IST |
MI full squad for IPL 2026
Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Ryan Rickleton, Robin Minz, Mitchell Santner, Corbin Bosch, Naman Dhir, Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Allah Ghafanzar, Ashwani Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Will Jacks, Raghu Sharma, Raj Angad Bawa. Traded in: Sherfane Rutherford (from GT), Mayank Markande (from KKR), Shardul Thakur (from LSG), Quinton de Kock (1 cr), Mohammad Izhar (30 L), Danish Malewar (30 L), Atharva Ankolekar (30 L), Mayank Rawat (30 L).
Cricket
Where does Rishabh Pant fit into Lucknow Super Giants Playing XI for IPL 2026?
