•Mumbai Indians finished ninth in IPL 2026 with eight points from 14 matches, suffering their tenth loss in a disastrous season.
•Hardik Pandya’s leadership came under scrutiny after MI’s dramatic fall from third place in 2025 to ninth in 2026.
•Kieron Pollard backed Pandya’s efforts and emphasized the season was a collective failure, not the fault of one individual.
•Key injuries and absences—Will Jacks, Mitchell Santner, Quinton de Kock—disrupted MI’s campaign, though Pollard defended the team’s overseas batting depth.
•MI has now gone six seasons without a title, their longest drought since 2008–2012.
•Pollard ruled out immediate decisions, stating the franchise needs time for a rational assessment before any changes.
•The final match on May 24, 2026, ended in a 30-run defeat to Rajasthan Royals, sealing MI’s underwhelming campaign.
Mumbai Indians (MI) concluded their IPL 2026 campaign with a 30-run defeat to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their final league-stage match, capping off a forgettable season that saw them finish ninth on the ten-team points table with just eight points from 14 games. The five-time champions suffered their tenth loss of the tournament, further deepening their struggles after a dramatic fall from grace following their third-place finish in IPL 2025. The defeat to Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium on May 24, 2026, marked the end of a season plagued by inconsistency, missed opportunities, and leadership questions surrounding skipper Hardik Pandya.
Speaking to the media after the match, Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard acknowledged that Pandya’s stint as captain had not gone according to plan, both for the player and the franchise. “From a leadership perspective on Hardik, yes, it has not gone as well as he would have wanted as an individual,” Pollard said. “It might not have gone how we would have wanted as a management staff. But one thing you know is that we have tried each and everything to give him the best opportunity to lead the franchise, to do well.” While Pollard stopped short of attributing the team’s poor run solely to Pandya, he emphasized that the season had been a collective failure rather than the fault of one individual. “No one is going to sit here and put blame or point fingers,” he stated. “When you lose, especially, you have to look at it from a collective perspective. You win some, you lose some. But at the end of the day, I wouldn't question certain things. He was trying; we all were trying, and it just didn't work out for us.”
Pollard described IPL 2026 as a season of “what-ifs” for Mumbai Indians, highlighting the team’s inability to string together wins despite occasional momentum. “To be honest, it has been a season of what-ifs and overall disappointing for all of us. Everyone would have felt the same way. There’s no hiding from that. We weren’t good throughout the entire tournament. We weren’t able to string together wins and use the momentum when we got it,” he admitted. The franchise, which had not won an IPL title since 2023, has now gone six consecutive seasons without reaching the podium—a streak that surpasses their previous longest barren phase from 2008 to 2012.
The team also faced significant personnel challenges during the season. Delayed availability of England batsman Will Jacks, the premature departure of New Zealand all-rounder Mitchell Santner due to injury, and the mid-season exit of South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock—who was ruled out with an injury—compounded MI’s problems. Despite these setbacks, Pollard defended the squad’s overseas batting depth, pointing to the presence of experienced reserves like Sherfane Rutherford, who had featured in international cricket over the past 18 months. “When you look within our ranks, we had Quinton de Kock who started backup to Ryan, we had Sherfane Rutherford who has played the last 12-18 months around the world, even in international cricket, and did well,” he noted. “So I won’t go into that. I think we had what it takes. I think at the end of the day, on the match days and when we needed to win, critical moments are where we didn’t win critical moments.”
Reflecting on the way forward, Pollard stressed that this was not the time for hasty decisions or emotional reactions. He said the management would need time to assess what went wrong across all areas—on-field performance, tactics, and squad composition—before making any structural changes. “Right now, is not the time and place to talk about that,” he said. “All these things would be sort of emotional decisions and thinking of every aspect of what is needed, everyone needs that time and space to go sit down, recollect, have a fair assessment as to where everything actually went wrong for us.” He added that responsible decision-making would come only after a thorough evaluation, warning against knee-jerk reactions. “If you sit here right now and say you need to do this, you need to do that, that would be irresponsible from a management perspective,” he cautioned.
The final match against Rajasthan Royals saw MI bat first and post a modest total, which RR chased down comfortably. The defeat extended MI’s winless streak and underscored their struggles in converting close games into victories—a recurring theme throughout the season. With the IPL 2027 season still over a year away, Mumbai Indians now face the challenge of rebuilding, re-evaluating leadership, and addressing gaps that emerged during a season that has been described as one of their most challenging in recent memory.
