IPL 2026: Hardik Pandya led in the first nine matches for MI during which they lost seven matches. (CREIMAS) Hardik Pandya may have missed out on his team’s most recent matches this month, but sharp layers of criticism over the Mumbai Indians’ underwhelming IPL 2026 season have unfailingly fallen on him. MI lost seven of the nine matches under Hardik before he was sidelined by an injury earlier this month. In the last three matches in his absence, Mumbai have won two matches under two different captains, Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah . While Suryakumar led in a win and defeat against Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bengaluru , Bumrah oversaw Thursday’s win over Punjab Kings in Dharamsala. The scrutiny over Hardik’s captaincy has only heightened in recent weeks with the rumour mill floating stories of internal rifts in the MI camp yet again. Despite the underwhelming skipper Hardik found some support from his former India teammate, R Ashwin.…