IPL 2026: End of Hardik Pandya era! New player set to lead Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians (MI) is all set to take a massive step ahead of the IPL 2026. There are high chances to see the former Indian Premier League champions with a new captain from the upcoming season. Which means the Hardik Pandya era can soon come to an end.

Hardik's debut season as the MI captain was during IPL 2024, which was a disappointing campaign for the IPL team. For the next season, in IPL 2025, the team management decided to stick with Captain Pandya. The Mumbai Indians had to experience a hard time during the initial stage of the season. After sustaining multiple setbacks, the team bounced back and went to play the playoffs, though they were not good enough to qualify for the final match.

For a team with multiple IPL trophies in the cabinet, failures in back-to-back seasons were not something the management was expecting. Ahead of IPL 2026, it is expected to see some reinforcement in their squad. According to the latest updates, Mumbai Indians can remove Hardik Pandya from the leadership role.

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Mumbai Indians can remove Hardik Pandya from captaincy 

As per claims, MI management can appoint Suryakumar Yadav as their new captain from the upcoming season. Yadav was one of the few batters who scored runs continuously for the Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025. In terms of stats, it was his best IPL season in terms of individual performances. In 16 matches and 16 innings, the right-handed batter scored 717 runs at an amazing batting average of 65.18.

When MI team management removed Rohit Sharma from the leadership duty, it was speculated that Yadav could take charge. The speculations caught pace after IPL 2024 as well. Suryakumar as a leader is already a proven talent. Recently, he guided Team India to become the Asia Cup 2025 champion as the undisputed team.