Hardik Pandya nothing without Ashish Nehra!! Ex-India star says MI focused on making headlines and missed the trick

Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has once again launched a scathing attack on Hardik Pandya’s captaincy despite Mumbai Indians’ comprehensive 99-run win over Gujarat Titans in their away IPL 2026 match on April 20 in Ahmedabad. Manjrekar has questioned whether MI’s decision-making was more emotional and brand-driven rather than based on pure cricket logic.

Pandya, who was brought back to Mumbai Indians in 2024 as captain, has not been able to give the kind of impact the franchise expected. Even though he came with strong leadership success from the Gujarat Titans, his homecoming has so far been mixed in the league.

Hardik Pandya’s IPL captaincy journey with Mumbai Indians under scanner

The 2024 season was a major setback for the five-time IPL champions, as they finished at the bottom of the points table. However, they have shown some improvement and managed to reach Qualifier 2 in 2025, which gave fans some hope that the team was getting back on track.

And even the MI had a winning start to their IPL 2026 campaign but then went on to lose four matches in a row before shocking the Gujarat Titans on Monday.

Looking closely at Hardik’s captaincy journey, Manjrekar has pointed out that his success with Gujarat Titans was not only about his leadership but also the strong coaching by Ashish Nehra.

The cricket pundit has suggested that the Mumbai Indians might have focused more on making a bold headline move when they brought Hardik back, instead of building the same support structure that helped him succeed earlier.

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Sanjay Manjrekar takes a sharp dig at MI’s big Hardik Pandya decision amid struggles

He boldly said MI should have brought the Gujarat Titans head coach Nehra too if they wanted success because the constant tactical inputs from the coach were the reason behind his success.

Sanjay Manjrekar said on Sportstar’s Insight Edge podcast: “Hardik Pandya to the Mumbai Indians was a very interesting decision. I think sometimes franchises make decisions that are newsworthy and put them in the spotlight, because ultimately, it’s a commercial brand. You can see the kind of valuations franchises are getting.

So, it may not even be a sound cricket call. Hardik Pandya had success with the Gujarat Titans, and that had a lot to do with somebody named Ashish Nehra. So maybe if you wanted Hardik Pandya, you could have also got Ashish Nehra with him.”

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GT’s coaching magic was behind Pandya’s success: Sanjay Manjrekar

The cricket pandit feels the GT team had a very active coaching setup that played a big role in on-field decisions, and that’s why Pandya did well as captain and won the IPL 2022 trophy and then made another final in 2023, where they lost the cup to CSK.

Manjrekar signed off by saying, “Hardik Pandya, I believe, was brilliant because there was somebody next to him constantly with almost every move that he made on the field. So, it’s really not so much about Hardik, but the decision, whether it was a sensible decision or it was just somebody wanting to think out of the box a little bit and do something a little sensational.”