IPL 2026: Ex-selector urges Mumbai Indians to hand over captaincy from Hardik Pandya to Suryakumar Yadav

Former India selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth has urged the Mumbai Indians (MI) team management to ask Hardik Pandya to step down as skipper and pass the baton to Suryakumar Yadav ahead of IPL 2026. Hardik has led MI ever since completing a trade move from Gujarat Titans (GT) ahead of IPL 2024.

The five-time champions endured a forgettable IPL 2024 season, finishing 10th, before making the playoffs in 2025. However, MI lost to Punjab Kings (PBKS) by five wickets in Qualifier 2, as their wait for a title since 2020 continued.

‘MI should ask Surya to lead’: Srikkanth

“They have to come together again, the franchise owners and the team management with Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya, and set this right again,” he said.

"They should ask Surya to lead this year to see if there is a change of luck. They can always appoint Surya as the captain anytime," Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.

The Baroda all-rounder began his IPL career with MI in 2015, and played for the franchise till 2021, before making a move to GT. He led GT to their inaugural title in their debut IPL season in 2022, beating Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the final, and led his team to the final again in 2023, where they lost to Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

However, ahead of the 2024 season, Hardik completed a blockbuster ₹15 crore trade deal from GT back to MI. He took over MI captaincy from Rohit Sharma ahead of IPL 2024 and has been their captain ever since.

"They don't need to announce it right now. It's a funny situation. Hardik Pandya is a good captain. But, yes, they have two T20 World Cup-winning captains playing under him now. It's some internal policy within their setup that they have to sort out. From the outside, the obvious choice should be Suryakumar Yadav. But this might be a franchise policy," added Srikkanth.

Suryakumar Yadav recently led India to their third T20 World Cup title, with the Men in Blue beating New Zealand in the final in Ahmedabad. Srikkanth feels that Hardik himself should hand over the MI captaincy to Suryakumar Yadav.

"It's a strange situation, as Hardik played under Rohit and Surya to help India win the World Cup. Otherwise, Hardik should himself say no to captaincy and allow Surya to lead. If Hardik himself says this to the management, things will get resolved. He should say, 'Let Surya lead and I'll support'. That's one way of solving it," the former Tamil Nadu cricketer said.

MI will begin their IPL 2026 campaign with a home game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on 29 March.