Mumbai Indians’ fourth successive defeat in the IPL 2026 season has raised alarm bells for the five-time champions, with former India batter Manoj Tiwary criticising Hardik Pandya’s captaincy after the crushing defeat to Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
The seven-wicket loss defending a 195-run total left Pandya scrambling for answers in the post-match chat. Despite starting the season on a fine note with a record chase at the Wankhede, have subsequently endured defeats by considerable margins. Tiwary slammed Pandya’s comments after the loss to Punjab, insisting that he may have indirectly pointed fingers at certain senior players, such as and Tilak Varma for their indifferent outings.
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“There’s not much to say right now. We need to go back to the drawing board and figure out where we’re lacking—whether it’s individuals, the team as a whole, or our planning. Those are the questions we need to answer moving forward. This isn’t just about moving on quickly. We need to assess honestly—whether we stick with the current approach or make some tough decisions. Accountability is important, and we need to take ownership if we want to turn things around,” Pandya had said after the match in .
According to his statements, it felt like he was targeting the established Indian players. It could be Suryakumar Yadav or Tilak Varma, who are not among the runs. I don’t know whom he was referring to, because his reaction and body language, did not seem right to me. We even saw the owner on the ground, and he looked angry. Overall, after seeing all of this, we can assume and guess that something is not right,” Manoj Tiwary said on Cricbuzz.
“From where will ownership come? One has to look at oneself as well. You need to see how you have been playing. According to me, just because you are not having success this year doesn’t mean the mistakes happened only this year. You need to look at the root cause as well. From 2015-2023, Rohit Sharma helped the win several trophies,” Tiwary remarked.
Tiwary also suggested that MI consider resting Hardik from the leadership and consider reinstating former skipper Rohit Sharma, who has led the side to a record five titles.
“If they want a solution for this, then should take a break from captaincy, and Rohit Sharma should be brought back in, and given that responsibility. When Rohit Sharma was removed as captain, it was an injustice. The expectation was that Hardik Pandya would deliver a trophy, but the way things are going, it does not seem that he will be able to do that,” he added.
