The 2026 IPL season turned into a major disappointment for Mumbai Indians, with the five-time champions ending their campaign near the bottom of the table. The team managed only four wins in 14 matches and finished ninth with just eight points, marking one of the franchise’s poorest performances in recent years.
Mumbai Indians’ final setback came against Rajasthan Royals at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday evening. Chasing a target of 206, MI failed to keep up with the required run rate and eventually lost the match by 30 runs. The defeat summed up a difficult campaign in which the team struggled to find consistency in both batting and bowling.
After the match, MI batting coach Kieron Pollard addressed the media and admitted that captain Hardik Pandya would not be satisfied with how the season unfolded from the leadership perspective. Kieron Pollard said the management had tried everything possible to support Hardik Pandya and give him the best environment to lead the franchise successfully but things simply did not work out the way they had hoped.
Despite the disappointing results, Kieron Pollard made it clear that the blame should not fall on one individual. He described the season as a collective failure and stressed that the entire group — players, coaching staff and management, shared responsibility for the poor campaign. According to Kieron Pollard, the team kept trying different approaches throughout the tournament but nothing consistently delivered results.
The former MI star also said this was not the right moment to make emotional decisions about the future of the squad or leadership group. He explained that the franchise would first take time to reflect on where things went wrong before deciding on any major changes.
Kieron Pollard admitted that finishing ninth this season was a significant drop compared to Mumbai Indians’ third-place finish in the 2025 IPL edition. However, he insisted that the franchise would approach any possible overhaul carefully rather than reacting in haste.
He added that management needed time and space to properly assess every aspect of the campaign. According to Kieron Pollard, rushing into immediate changes after such a disappointing season would be irresponsible and the focus for now would be on learning from mistakes and returning stronger next year.
Let’s see what changes will take place in the MI camp after having a disastrous IPL 2026.
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