Extraordinary things are expected from the Mumbai Indians, but the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season was fairly ordinary for the five-time champions. Be it jasprit bumrah‘s failure to pick up wickets, Suryakumar Yadav‘s barren run with the bat, or Hardik Pandya‘s captaincy, there were several factors that led to MI loitering at the No. 9 spot in the points table. To add insult to injury, Mumbai also lost their final game of the campaign against the Rajasthan Royals, despite looking in pole position to win the contest at one point.
Mumbai needed 60 runs from 34 balls to claim a victory in their final match and bow out on a high, but a lower-order collapse saw them restricted to just 175/9. Sharing his opinion on MI’s underwhelming show this year, Ravichandran Ashwin refused to mince his words.
Mumbai were 148/5 at one point, with Hardik and Suryakumar batting in the middle. It looked as though the chase was a mere formality from that stage, but disaster unfolded as the team kept losing wickets from then on.
“At the Wankhede Stadium, if you need 60 runs off 34 balls, I think Mumbai Indians would usually chase it down. But the problem was… yes, that’s where things went wrong. Hardik hit well today, even against the spinners. If you remember, for Gujarat Titans, Hardik used to bat at number four or sometimes number five, and he used to take down the spinners,” Ashwin said in a video on his YouTube channel.
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Ashwin feels that MI have looked quite ‘strange’ this year under Hardik. While a few players have had injury issues, most of them haven’t looked like themselves, which Ashwin feels is a big problem. In fact, Ashwin thinks it wouldn’t be a surprise if the next campaign ends on a similar note for Mumbai.
“I think I said it in the commentary box too, Hardik looks like he has a small problem with the hard-length ball. I don’t know why, could be fatigue, could be an injury. I said something about this last time too. He got out, mishitting a short, slower ball from Jofra Archer. I think the game turned right there because the partnership of Hardik and Surya would have chased that down, but they were just not able to accelerate.
“This Mumbai Indians team felt a bit strange. I don’t know. It cannot be easy. Given their quality, maybe they can come back and play well next year, but I won’t be surprised if they find it tough for one more year. Because of the way their team is structured, it looks like a lot of people are not at their best. I don’t know what it is, but they are not looking at their best. So, I was surprised this year, but next year I won’t be surprised. Even if Mumbai Indians give a middling performance, it has been a very disappointing performance.
Ashwin didn’t spare Bumrah either, highlighting his deplorable bowling average of over 100 this year.
“Jasprit Bumrah wasn’t playing today either. It was never going to be easy. It was RR’s game to lose, and RR won. I mean, credit where it’s due. Jasprit Bumrah not playing was also a bit of a help for Punjab… wait, do you know this record? This is the first time in the history of the IPL that a bowler has played a full season and averaged over 100, and that’s Jasprit Bumrah! I had told anyone this…”
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