Mumbai Indians suffered their sixth defeat in 8 IPL 2026 games on Wednesday, and all hell broke loose for their captain Hardik Pandya. In fact, it has been a while since he has been under fire.
In seven matches he has played so far, he has scored just 128 runs at an average of 21.33 and a strike rate of 152.38. Both the numbers, the average as well as the strike rate, don’t justify the talent the Indian all-rounder possesses. If he had not scored a 15-ball 31 against SRH on Wednesday, those numbers would have looked much worse.
Former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim appears to have identified the problem. According to him, it’s high time Pandya reinvented himself as a batsman. “The opposition bowlers have worked out a plan for him. Very few deliveries are bowled in the slot for him, and I think Hardik Pandya, the way he sets himself up, is only for those deliveries that are in this slot. Anything short outside the off-stump, he has been unable to play freely. That is number one,” Karim said on an ESPNcricinfo show.
“And I feel now for him to score runs, if you look at the other batters in the list [players with the lowest strike rates in overs 17-20 since 2024, minimum deliveries 100], all of them have reinvented their game. They have become more multidimensional [Pandya's strike rate at 173 is still better than theirs but they have been playing modern T20 cricket with a much-bigger range]. They can play here, they can play the short delivery, and they are well-equipped to play the upper shot. So they have kind of worked hard on the game. And I think in terms of batting, Hardik needs to do that,” Karim explained.
To make it worse, he is the captain of the side!
{{/usCountry}}“And I feel now for him to score runs, if you look at the other batters in the list [players with the lowest strike rates in overs 17-20 since 2024, minimum deliveries 100], all of them have reinvented their game. They have become more multidimensional [Pandya's strike rate at 173 is still better than theirs but they have been playing modern T20 cricket with a much-bigger range]. They can play here, they can play the short delivery, and they are well-equipped to play the upper shot. So they have kind of worked hard on the game. And I think in terms of batting, Hardik needs to do that,” Karim explained.
To make it worse, he is the captain of the side!
{{/usCountry}}58-year-old Karim, who played one Test and 34 ODIs for India, however, acknowledged that the pressure of captaincy wasn’t helping Pandya either. “The pressure of leading MI, the pressure of the team not doing very well. All that is weighing heavily on him,” he said.
“Hardik is an exceptional talent. He has done so well for India, even for MI, in difficult situations. But I just feel that, at this stage, the opposition bowlers have got his number in terms of the length that they are bowling to him.”
Going forward, Mumbai Indians need to win their remaining games and hope at the same time that other results also go their way. They are up next against Chennai Super Kings on May 2 at the Chidambaram Stadium.