Hardik Pandya's absence from the past two IPL 2026 games sparked talk. Now, Mumbai Indians’ head coach Mahela Jayawardene speaks up. Leadership fell to Suryakumar Yadav when he was out. Questions lingered until now. The silence ends with a response. One by one, doubts start clearing. Not every gap needs filling. Sometimes presence shows in stepping back. A skipper away does not mean drift. Continuity hides in choices made quietly. What happens off the field shapes what unfolds on it.

Down goes the Mumbai Indians once more, their shaky run taking a hard hit Sunday after falling short against Royal Challengers Bengaluru by just two wickets in Raipur, playoff dreams now gone for good. Last year’s bounce back, climbing from rock bottom in 2023 into contention, had raised hopes heading into IPL 2026. Yet here they are again, tripped up by uneven performances, stuck beyond the top four with nothing left to prove.

Mumbai Indians coach confirms Hardik’s back injury

Still missing, Pandya set off whispers of trouble behind the scenes at the Mumbai Indians. Rumours grew louder when word spread he’d cut ties online by unfollowing the team on Instagram. That story fell apart fast; his follow-up remains active today. The account still shows him connected, quiet but present.

Putting things straight, Jayawardene said the all-rounder's been struggling with his back - kept him out of practice. While it wasn’t public before, now it’s clear why he missed sessions. Since then, recovery has taken longer than expected. So far, progress is steady but slow. Because of this, the workload had to be cut down immediately. Even so, hope remains for a return later in the season.

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“Hardik had a back issue which we were trying to rectify, but it hasn’t settled yet,” Jayawardene said. “The medical team has been working with him, and he couldn’t train over the last few days. We didn’t want to take a risk without understanding the situation fully. It’s being monitored day by day.”
Not hitting steady form was something the MI coach owned up to, saying it slipped away each time they got close. Losing out on finals came down to those shaky stretches across the event.

“The season is disappointing,” Jayawardene said. “We had our opportunities, but we were not good enough. We lacked consistency with both bat and ball, and that showed in the close margins. We were probably two or three wins away from being in contention, but we failed to get over the line.”

Even with three games left, talk around the Mumbai Indians has shifted fast. Rumours about Pandya leaving or losing the captaincy have started popping up everywhere. The team hasn’t said anything definite yet. Still, questions keep growing louder by the day.

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