Amid the concerns over Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya’s fitness, the all-rounder has allayed fears by sharing a couple of clips on his Instagram stories where he can be seen batting in the nets.
Pandya has missed MI’s last two matches of the IPL 2026, with the five-time champions enduring a forgettable campaign and have already been eliminated from the play-offs race, having suffered eight defeats in 11 matches.
IPL 2026 | Schedule | Results | Orange Cap | Purple Cap
While Pandya may have dropped a hint over where he stands as far as his fitness is concerned, reports claim he hasn’t travelled with the MI squad for their next match of the ongoing season, slated against Punjab Kings. The match will be played in Dharamsala tomorrow evening.
Hardik pandya practicing in the nets. He just put a stop on alll the rumours 🌚 pic.twitter.com/AjG8Fg9gW9
— Gagan Choudhary (@trigguuuu) May 12, 2026
MI support staff is keeping a close watch on Pandya’s recovery, but doubts remain over his availability. In his absence, Suryakumar Yadav has captained the franchise.
MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene had earlier confirmed that Pandya is indeed dealing with a back issue, due to which he hasn’t been able to practise.
“Hardik had a back issue which we were trying to rectify, but it hasn’t settled in yet. The medical guys were working on him. He couldn’t train the last few days, so we didn’t want to take a risk,” Jayawardene said after MI lost to RCB last week.
As per a report in Cricbuzz, there’s still a possibility of the 32-year-old travelling to Dharamsala for the contest.
It has been a difficult season for MI, with Pandya himself struggling. In eight matches, he has taken four wickets at an economy of 11.9, while with the bat, 146 runs from eight innings at a strike-rate of 136.44.
MI are currently 9th in the standings with six points. Last season, MI finished fourth to qualify for the play-offs where they lost to PBKS in the second qualifier.
