'Experiment with Hardik Pandya as captain is not working': Harsha Bhogle calls for MI captaincy change after IPL 2026 debacle

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'Experiment with Hardik Pandya as captain is not working': Harsha Bhogle

Star Indian commentator and pundit Harsha Bhogle, who has been associated with the MI franchise in the past, took to social media, to share his thoughts about the franchise's horror show in the ongoing season.

Bhogle touched upon several subjects and weaknesses that he noticed in the current MI squad. The commentator felt that, except for Jasprit Bumrah, none of the other Indian players was in great form during the T20 World Cup 2026; however, no one expected MI to fail this miserably.

He further opined that MI's experiment of making Hardik Pandya the captain of the franchise in 2024, has not worked out for the team as they have reached the playoff stage only once in the last three editions.

On X, Bhogle wrote: "I must confess I didn't see a team, as studded with stars as #MumbaiIndians  is, come apart like this. The only possible indicator could have been that, Bumrah apart, the others hadn't had an outstanding T20WC. But nobody could have predicted this. I had thought aloud about a hypothesis on my YT channel that reputation is becoming a burden in modern T20 cricket as a possible reason. I don't know if all the forces within were aligned but that could be another. And the experiment with Hardik Pandya as captain is now 3 years old and it has delivered a play-off only once so maybe something isn't working there. But I bet nobody saw #MI not making the play-offs."

MORE:Pandya stats in IPL 2026: MI captain's batting and bowling numbers

The Cricket News Opinion: Hardik Pandya alone cannot be blamed for MI's horrendous performance

While Pandya's off-form has seriously impacted MI's performances this season, it will be wrong to put the entire blame on the captain of the side. Almost all other Indian recruits have miserably failed to recreate the magic of the Indian team that fans witnessed at the T20 World Cup 2026.

Bumrah has looked off colour and batters of all teams have dominated against him, a very rare sight in IPL or international cricket. Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav has also struggled with his batting form. Rohit Sharma has been nursing an injury since last month and has hardly featured for the team this season, complicating MI's team selections, which have lacked consistency.

Tilak Varma is the only Indian player who has contributed with the bat in at least one game, as he scored a century of just 45 runs against the Gujarat Titans.

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