Mumbai Indians (MI) created history as Hardik Pandya returned to lead them in their 2026 Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday (May 20). This means that the five-time champions have had three different captains in each of the last three games, with Jasprit Bumrah leading them against Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Suryakumar Yadav leading the side against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).
Hardik missed the last three games due to a back injury, and Suryakumar Yadav led the side twice. He missed the game against PBKS in Dharamshala due to personal reasons, which led to Bumrah making his captaincy debut.
MI is only the second team in IPL history to use three different captains in all three consecutive matches during the same season. The only instance of the same happening was by the now defunct Pune Warriors India (PWI) in the 2013 season. Ross Taylor, Angelo Matthews, and Aaron Finch led them in three games in a row (against CSK, SRH, and Kings XI Punjab). That also turned out to be the Pune-based franchise's last season in the league.
Interestingly, there have been only five instances of a team using three captains in a season. MI is the only team that has done the same thrice as well as a combination of all Indian captains. PWI are the only team that used three overseas skippers through the course of a single edition of the tournament.
In the 13 matches MI has played this season so far, their full-time captain Hardik has captained them in nine matches while missing four games. The star all-rounder was absent from the season's second game against Delhi Capitals (DC) due to an illness before missing the clashes against Lucknow Super Giants, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), and PBKS. Suryakumar led the franchise in the first three games.
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Aayush Kataria is a Senior Copy Editor at Times Network with four years of experience, having started his career in the organisation. He is a key memb...View More
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