Hardik Pandya to Step Down as Mumbai Indians Captain? 1983-WC-Winner's Bizarre Advise Ahead of IPL 2026

IPL 2026: Should Hardik Pandya step down as Mumbai Indians captain making way for Suryakumar Yadav to take over? Suryakumar recently led India to triumph at the T20 World Cup and hence former India cricketer Kris Srikkanth has advised the MI franchise to consider it. As per Srikkanth, MI seniors like Rohit Sharma, Hardik and Suryakumar have to come together to create the magic. Srikkanth reckons Suryakumar should be the obvious choice. 

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‘They have to come together’

"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. 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. 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," said Srikkanth on his YouTube.

Srikkanth labelled it as a ‘strange’ situation as Hardik has played under both Rohit and Suryakumar to help the Men in Blue win the WC. 

‘Strange situation’

"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," Srikkanth explained.

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Mumbai play their season opener against Kolkata on March 29.