Top 3 Contenders to Lead Mumbai Indians If Hardik Pandya Steps Down
After losing to Punjab Kings in the second qualifier, the Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians were unable to advance to the IPL 2025 final. Under Hardik’s direction, they placed last in the IPL 2024 points standings.
After losing to Punjab Kings (PBKS) by five wickets in Sunday’s second qualifier, the Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians (MI) were eliminated from the IPL 2025. With high expectations, MI got Hardik back from Gujarat Titans (GT), but they haven’t exactly profited from the choice. MI had to play the eliminator this season after finishing last in the IPL 2024 points standings.
Hardik, who captained GT to 2 back-to-back IPL finals, hasn’t been able to replicate his success with MI and the franchise could consider changing its captain before IPL 2026. Here, we have a look at 3 players who can replace Hardik Pandya as MI’s captain –
Rohit Sharma
Mumbai Indians could go back to Rohit Sharma for a couple of seasons if they decide to remove Hardik from captaincy. Rohit has proven credentials as an IPL captain and he is their IPL-winning captain so far. Rohit captained MI to 5 IPL title wins.
Before the 2024 IPL, he was relieved of his captaincy. He led India to victory in the 2024 T20 World Cup almost seven months later. As India’s ODI captain, Rohit appears destined to stay in that position till the 2027 World Cup. To break their lengthy five-year trophy drought, MI should think about re-appointing Rohit as captain.
Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav pipped Hardik to become India’s T20I captain but he plays under the all-rounder in IPL. Suryakumar could be an automatic choice to be given captaincy if MI decide to make a change.
Under Suryakumar’s leadership, India has done well, and he can repeat that success in the T20 league. He led the squad in two games and is a member of MI’s leadership group. However, Suryakumar hasn’t held the position of captain in the IPL full-time. He appears to be the most qualified candidate to assume leadership in the event of a captaincy change.
Jasprit Bumrah
How about Jasprit Bumrah? Ignored by the national selectors for Test captaincy, Bumrah could surely be an option to lead MI in IPL. He has done captaincy in Test and T20Is formats in international cricket and doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone.
12 years back, MI stunned the fans by appointing Rohit as the captain in the middle of IPL 2013. They and Team India benefited greatly from the unexpected choice. Once more, they might select an unexpected applicant and give Bumrah the team’s lead. He has never served as an IPL captain.
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