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The much-vaunted Mumbai Indians have been eliminated from IPL title contention this season.
It has been a desperate campaign for the Wankhede-based team who have managed just three wins all season.
For a side that boasts the cream of Indian talent, including Jasprit Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma – not to mention some of the best T20 players from around the world, it has been a fraught season.
It was a season that promised much but which has delivered very little. Let’s look at where it all went wrong.
The primary catalyst for this collapse was a catastrophic failure of the senior core. Jasprit Bumrah, typically the most feared paceman in the world, went wicketless in the first five matches.
By the time he found some sort of rhythm, the season was already slipping away. Similarly, Suryakumar Yadav, who just twelve months ago was the Indian Premier League‘s Most Valuable Player, looked a shadow of himself, averaging a dismal 17.73.
When your two most impactful match-winners fail to fire, the structural integrity of the team dissolves.
Tactical confusion under Hardik Pandya’s leadership further exacerbated these on-field struggles.
The decision to hand the final over in a must-win game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru to rookie Raj Angad Bawa, who had never bowled in the IPL before, perfectly encapsulated a season of questionable decision-making.
Although to be fair that decision was made by Suryakumar and not Hardik, as the regular skipper missed out injured.
Also read: Revealed – The five biggest disappointments of this year’s IPL so far
Critics and fans alike noted a distinct lack of unity, with many pointing to a ‘lobby culture’ and a failure to truly rally behind Pandya as captain following the transition from Rohit Sharma in India.
There have been other issues, which we will touch on shortly, but the leadership transition and balance within the changeroom have been critical.
Rumours around the team suggest that there are factions within the dressing room with some veteran players and support staff still more aligned with the former leadership, creating an environment where the team isn’t fully united behind the current captain.
Added to that is the fact that there are too many leaders. Analysts have noted that the dressing room has become “crowded with opinions,” with senior players like Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah all being alphas and natural leaders.
While this can undoubtedly be a strength for a team, it can very quickly become a weakness if alignment is missing which is the case here with a lack of tactical clarity showing on the field, as different lobbies, or groups within the team, bring their conflicting views on strategy.
Injuries also played a cruel hand. Rohit Sharma’s mid-season hamstring injury forced him out for six consecutive games, depriving the top order of its most experienced anchor.
While uncapped Naman Dhir emerged as a rare bright spot at the top of the order, he lacked the support to sustain MI’s aggressive powerplay ambitions.
The team’s inability to adapt to the league’s evolving all-out attack template meant they were often playing catch-up, appearing stuck in an outdated 2020 tactical framework while the rest of the league surged ahead.
Ultimately, Mumbai Indians’ 2026 campaign was a story of a giant that forgot how to walk.
Over-reliance on an aging core, a lack of successful youth scouting, once the franchise’s USP, and a complete breakdown in death-over execution left them languishing at the bottom of the table.
For a five-time champion, finishing among the bottom two for the third time since 2021 is not just a dip in form; it is a full-blown identity crisis that will require difficult calls in the upcoming mini-auction.
Read next: The next big thing? Five uncapped IPL stars set to dominate in the future
The post The blue blueprint fails: Why Mumbai Indians unravelled in IPL 2026 appeared first on Cricket365.
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