Former India cricketer turned commentator Wasim Jaffer said that the Mumbai Indians (MI) will not remove Hardik Pandya as captain amid the ongoing IPL 2026. He stated that the management will instead evaluate his performance once the season is over. However, Hardik’s leadership has come under the scanner following MI’s poor run in the edition.

“All these decisions are taken after the tournament. Nobody thinks about it mid-tournament. Mumbai Indians’ journey is alive just mathematically; they are also almost out of the tournament. They have underperformed, but you cannot say that this team played badly because of Hardik Pandya. Individual players also have not played well, and there have been injury issues as well. Rohit got injured at the wrong time, and Jasprit Bumrah, Suryakumar Yadav, and Trent Boult struggled for form,” he said in his YouTube video.

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MI wicketkeeper-batter Ryan Rickelton, however, seemed hopeful of Hardik Pandya travelling with the team to Raipur before their upcoming match against RCB. However, he added that he was not aware of how serious the injury was.

Rickelton said in the post-match press conference, “I don’t know when he is expected to be back. I found out myself this afternoon that he had back spasms. I don’t know the extent of the injury or how bad it is. I am not sure how he is feeling, but I am sure that he will be with us again as we head to Raipur this week.”