Is It Worst Deal In History Of IPL Cricket?

We have arrived at the climax position of the ongoing season of the IPL 2026 with the final game scheduled to happen tomorrow, May 31. This final game will include Royal Challengers, Bengaluru, and Gujarat Titans.

Now the discussion has come up against this one particular player who appears to be a part of one of the worst possible deals in the history of IPL cricket.

The player in discussion here is Hardik Pandya, who returned to Mumbai Indians from his old team of Gujarat Titans, which turned out to be a disaster of a big proportion.

Hardik Pandya was originally found and established by Mumbai Indians and he moved to Gujarat before returning back to Mumbai in 2024. However, this return was an absolute pathetic as Hardik Pandya became one of the first performing players in the league after this transition.

Hardik was once one of the brightest talent in Indian cricket, and he was an absolute beast with the bat. However, his downfall started after he returned to Mumbai Indians as things did not go smoothly for him here.

There were multiple reports that the senior players in the team are not compatible with Hardik and had presented the case to remove him from captaincy position. This resulted in extremely tense atmosphere within the dressing room and the reflected on the field as Mumbai Indians finished in ninth position this year.

Subsequently Mumbai Indians, which is one of the champion teams in the IPL became an absolute loser team as they ended up, not qualifying for the play-offs in the recent past.

Now the latest development are suggesting that Hardik Pandya has been removed from the captain position at Mumbai Indians, and he is likely to be removed from the team in the near future as well.