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PlayersHardik Pandya's Mumbai story: A hostile homecoming, redemption and an eventual goodbye
On Wednesday, Hardik's second chapter at MI closed with a trade that sent him to Punjab Kings for Arshdeep Singh.
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In July 2024, when the Indian team's grand open-top bus victory parade reached the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, the iconic venue that had turned hostile towards Hardik Pandya through the previous IPL summer, rose to applaud the all-rounder. India had won the T20 World Cup a few days earlier, and Hardik had been one of the chief architects of that triumph.
That contradiction underlined Hardik's second stint at Mumbai Indians. There was redemption, a promising revival in 2025, but the pendulum swung the other way the following year. Eventually, Mumbai ran out of patience.
On Wednesday, bringing an end to weeks of speculation, Hardik's second chapter at the franchise closed with a trade that sent him to Punjab Kings, with Arshdeep Singh moving in the opposite direction.
For a player who was a homegrown talent for Mumbai, the breakdown of that relationship was nothing short of bizarre. His comeback to the franchise, after two successful seasons at Gujarat Titans---where he led them to the title in their debut season---was hailed as a strategic gain. But the announcement that he would replace Rohit Sharma as captain ahead of IPL 2024 was probably where it all started to unravel.
MI fans jeered and booed him everywhere he played. Hardik could not do much to help his cause either, as Mumbai endured a disastrous campaign, finishing last that season.
Redemption came at the T20 World Cup in June that year. Hardik scored 144 runs at a strike rate of over 150 and picked up 11 wickets across the tournament. That included the crucial dismissal of Heinrich Klaasen in the final, before he successfully defended 16 runs in the last over as India ended an 11-year wait for an ICC trophy.
In 2025, he led MI to the playoffs. There was a sense of belief again, but 2026 undid it again. Mumbai began the season with a win against Kolkata Knight Riders but lost their way thereafter. They finished ninth with just four wins and were eliminated from the playoff race by mid-May.
There were bowling concerns and batting failures, but Hardik found himself at the centre of bulk of the criticism. He scored 206 runs at a strike rate of 138 and picked up just four wickets, going at more than 11 runs an over. His captaincy came under scrutiny as well, while the stands once again found reasons to turn against him.
Towards the end of the campaign, back spasms kept him on the sidelines, with Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah taking over the captaincy in his absence. As the five-time champions' season drew to a close, speculation gathered pace that Hardik's time at Mumbai was over, yet again.
After months of waiting, IPL made the announcement official. Mumbai put in a "thank you" post. Hardik did not. He rather welcomed himself into PBKS in his only social media post after the trade.
The announcement will make for a reunion with Ricky Ponting, who coached Hardik at MI in 2015 and 2016.
IPL 2027 will also be the first time in five years that Hardik will not don the captaincy armband since 2022. There will be no Rohit comparisons. There will be no boos from the stands. Perhaps it will allow Hardik to thrive amid no burden, on and off the field, and give him a chance to find his mojo again.
