Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: When will Hardik Pandya return to action? How is his injury? When will he make a comeback? These are the questions fans have been asking after the Mumbai Indians skipper missed his second consecutive match in IPL 2026. Mumbai Indians were without their regular captain for the second straight game, with Suryakumar Yadav leading the side in Hardik’s absence.Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene provided an important update on Pandya’s injury after MI suffered a two-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur.
The loss also confirmed five-time champions Mumbai Indians’ elimination from the playoff race. MI became the second team after Lucknow Super Giants to be knocked out of the tournament.Speaking after the match, Jayawardene revealed that Hardik has been dealing with a back issue and is currently under treatment with the medical team.“Yeah. Hardik had a back issue which we were trying to rectify, but it hasn’t settled in yet. So the medical guys were working on him. He couldn’t train the last few days, so we didn’t want to take a risk without knowing exactly. So we’ll see. It’s on a day-to-day basis. See how he feels. And then we’ll make a decision on that,” said Jayawardene.Mumbai Indians have endured a poor IPL 2026 campaign so far, having played 11 matches, winning 3 and losing 8.Jayawardene knew he would face tough questions in the post-match press conference.“The season is disappointing. We’ve had our opportunities, but we were not good enough. We were not consistent enough with the ball or the bat, and that showed in the margins. We were probably two or three wins away from being in the same group of contenders to get into the playoffs, but we didn’t get those wins, and today was another classic example where we fell short,” the Sri Lankan legend said.
