Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians (MI) crashed out of IPL 2025 after suffering a five-wicket defeat at the hands of Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the second qualifier on Sunday (June 1). MI brought back Hardik from Gujarat Titans (GT) with big hopes but the decision hasn't benefited them much. MI finished at the last spot in the IPL 2024 points table while they had to play the eliminator this season.

Hardik, who captained GT to 2 back-to-back IPL finals, hasn't been able to replicate his success with MI and the franchise could consider changing its captain before IPL 2026. Here, we have a look at 3 players who can replace Hardik Pandya as MI's captain -

Mumbai Indians could go back to Rohit Sharma for a couple of seasons if they decide to remove Hardik from captaincy. Rohit has proven credentials as an IPL captain. He captained MI to 5 IPL title wins.

He was removed from captaincy before IPL 2024. Nearly 7 months later, he captained India to a title win in the 2024 T20 World Cup. Rohit is still India's ODI captain and looks set to lead the team till the 2027 World Cup. MI could consider reappointing Rohit as captain to end their five-year-long trophy drought.

Suryakumar Yadav pipped Hardik to become India's T20I captain but he plays under the all-rounder in IPL. Suryakumar could be an automatic choice for captaincy if MI decide to make a change.

India have performed well under Suryakumar's leadership and he can replicate his performance in the T20 league. He is part of the leadership group in MI and has led the team in 2 matches. But Suryakumar hasn't done captaincy on a full-time basis in IPL. He looks the strongest contender to take over the charge if there is a change in captaincy.

How about Jasprit Bumrah? Ignored by the national selectors for Test captaincy, Bumrah could surely be an option to lead MI in IPL. He has done captaincy in Test and T20I formats in international cricket and doesn't have anything to prove to anyone.

12 years back, MI stunned the fans by appointing Rohit as the captain in the middle of IPL 2013. The surprising decision did wonders for them and Team India. They could once again pick a surprising candidate and hand Bumrah the team's charge. He has never done captaincy in IPL.

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