Hardik Pandya hints at Mumbai Indians exit with cryptic Instagram pos…

Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya triggered fresh exit speculation after sharing a cryptic Instagram post following the end of IPL 2026. The post featured rumored girlfriend Mahieka Sharma but did not include any photos with his Mumbai Indians teammates, leading to discussions among fans.

Pandya shared the post after Mumbai Indians lost by 30 runs to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their final league match of the season. The five-time IPL champions endured a poor campaign and finished second-last on the points table after managing only eight points from 14 matches during the tournament.

Hardik Pandya Hints at Mumbai Indians Exit With Cryptic Instagram Post

While Hardik Pandya has not publicly commented on his personal life, his recent appearances with Mahieka Sharma have continued to fuel relationship rumors on social media. Several unconfirmed reports have also claimed that the two may move in together soon as their public outings become more frequent. librea.one

NewsRohit Sharma not the real ‘Lord’ of Lord’s, teammate Shardul Thakur isRohit Sharma was woefully out of form before the Lord's ODI, where he went on to slam a ton with Shardul Thakur's bat. The post Rohit Sharma not the real ‘Lord’ of Lord’s, teamm...Open →

Also Read: Travis Head’s wife breaks silence on abuse after Virat Kohli controversy

Their recent public appearances have further intensified the speculation. Fans also noticed that Hardik Pandya’s latest Instagram post focused entirely on personal moments and did not feature any references to Mumbai Indians, which added to the ongoing rumors about his future with the franchise.

Hardik and Mahieka have often been spotted together during private vacations and outings. Earlier in March, photographers captured the pair boarding a private speedboat near the Gateway of India in Mumbai. The couple also wore matching blue outfits during celebrations after India’s T20 World Cup triumph.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hardik Pandya (@hardikpandya93)

Mumbai Indians are known for recovering strongly after slow starts and reaching the playoffs, but IPL 2026 turned into one of the worst seasons in the franchise’s history. Their campaign lost momentum after a narrow two-wicket defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Raipur.

The franchise also struggled badly with consistency throughout the season. Jasprit Bumrah failed to produce his usual match-winning impact regularly, while the middle order repeatedly collapsed under pressure during crucial games.

Unlike teams such as Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings, and Rajasthan Royals, who adopted an aggressive batting approach, Mumbai appeared tactically outdated for most of the season. Hardik Pandya is facing heavy criticism, with the franchise losing 24 of their 39 matches since he took over leadership duties.

Kieron Pollard Admits Hardik Pandya Captaincy Change Failed to Deliver Expected Results

Mumbai Indians batting coach Kieron Pollard addressed the growing criticism surrounding Hardik Pandya’s captaincy after the team’s final league match. Pollard admitted that the leadership change did not produce the results the franchise had expected during IPL 2026.

“From a leadership perspective on Hardik, yes, it has not gone as well as he would have wanted as an individual. It might not have gone the way we as a management group would have wanted either. But one thing you should know is that we tried everything possible to give him the best opportunity to lead the franchise and succeed.”

Poor tactical decisions, repeated failures in crucial moments, and injuries to important players badly affected Mumbai Indians throughout the season. The timing and nature of Pandya’s recent Instagram post have now further fueled speculation about his future with the franchise.

Also read: PBKS owner urges BCCI to solve overseas player availability issue in IPL

After two days of intense track and field action and a flurry of national records at the National Senior Athletics Federation Cup at the Birsa Munda Stadium, Day 3 appeared relatively subdued before Madhya Pradesh teammates and training partners, Dev Kumar Meena and Kuldeep Kumar, put on a friendly duel of vertical competition in men’s pole vault.

Entering the event, Kuldeep held the national record at 5.41m, set earlier in the month in Bhubaneswar. However, the record changed hands twice under the breezy sky in the evening.

The 20-year-old Dev struck first, clearing 5.42m to briefly reclaim the national record. Kuldeep, 21, responded immediately with a flawless 5.45m clearance to take it back. Dev refused to settle for silver; responded by matching the 5.45m height moments later under immense pressure with lingering calf strain.

Later, both attempted to take the Indian pole vault height to 5.50, however they didn’t succeed. Though both missed their ambitious attempts, they finished as joint national record holders.

“Both of them had the 5.50m mark in mind when they stepped onto the runway. They even went for it, but I’m happy our boys could still raise the national record,” said coach Ghanshyam Yadav under whom both vaulters train at the TT Nagar facility in Bhopal.

Dev secured the gold medal on countback of fewer misses during attempts – Dev’s eight versus Kuldeep’s nine – leaving Kuldeep with silver. Tamilnadu’s Reegan Ganesh settled for bronze with a height clearance of 5.15m.

“We did our best today and gave each other a good fight. We will continue to keep up our fight in order to improve further,” said Dev. “We are still learning this technical sport and we will improve,” noted Kuldeep.

Reflecting on the camaraderie and friendly rivalry that dates back to their childhood days, Dev called it a privilege to compete alongside Kuldeep. “We’ve been competing since the time we were jumping 4.50m and 4.60m,” Dev said after the event. Kuldeep shared similar thoughts, crediting their friendly competition for driving each other forward.

Dev and Kuldeep also easily breached the Athletics Federation of India’s (AFI) Commonwealth Games (CWG) qualification benchmark of 5.25m.

Sreeshankar and Sarvesh Soars Past CWG Mark

Over at the long jump pit, Commonwealth Games silver medallist Murali Sreeshankar continued his undefeated domestic run this season.

Sreeshankar registered a winning leap of 8.08m, consistently crossing the eight-metre mark for his fourth consecutive event this year. In doing so, he comfortably pushed past the tight CWG qualification standard of 8.05m.

Back after a successful NCAA season to compete in the domestic meet, Lokesh Sathyanathan leapt 7.94m to win gold in the men’s long jump. Muhammed Muhsin took bronze with 7.90m, while national record holder Jeswin Aldrin, returning from a long injury layoff, managed to leap 7.73m.

In the high jump competition, 2025 World Championship finalist, Sarvesh Kushare, first comfortably cleared the CWG qualifying mark of 2.22m before soaring over 2.28m to equal both his personal best and the meet record held by Tejaswin Shankar. The Maharashtrian attempted the national record height of 2.30m despite pain in his left ankle but could not clear the bar.

Adarsh Ram of Tamil Nadu won silver with 2.22m clearance, also breaching the CWG qualifying mark while Sudeep of Karnataka claimed bronze with 2.12m.

Mixed Fortunes for Tejas Shirse

National record holder Tejas Shirse, who announced his comeback with an impressive 13.43s in men’s 110m hurdles earlier this month, wasn’t able to replicate the same in Ranchi.

Representing Reliance, Shirse clocked 13.50 seconds to break his own previous meet record of 13.61 seconds, winning the gold medal. Shirse missed the demanding CWG qualification time of 13.39s by just 0.11s. Reliance teammate Krishik M followed him closely to secure silver at 13.52s while Muhammad Lazan of Indian Navy settled for bronze in 13.83s.

For latest sports updates: Follow RevSportz

The post National Record Changes Hands Twice as Dev and Kuldeep Soar to 5.45m at Federation Cup 2026 appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.

Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara lavished praise on Jofra Archer’s all-round show as his 32 off 15 balls and 3-17 off four overs helped his team beat Mumbai Indians by 30 runs to enter the Playoffs at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

“I thought today [Sunday] it was a pretty good pitch, a little slow to start with. But the way Jofra went in and batted was outstanding. He’s actually quite a capable batter. He’s not a No. 8 [batter] really. When he puts his mind to it, he’s a proper batter. There’s a lot of power and a lot of sense [in his game] and then everyone around him [batted well].

“Jofra will bowl fast, he’ll swing the ball, he’ll get wickets. The way he gives so much back to the side and his teammates, that’s incredible because it lifts everyone else as well,” Sangakkara said during the post-match press conference on Sunday.

English pacer Jofra Archer’s (15-ball 32 and 3-17) all-round show helped Rajasthan Royals (RR) outclass Mumbai Indians (MI) by 30 runs at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday and storm into the Playoffs.

This was MI’s 10th loss of the season as they finished ninth with just four wins. Meanwhile, RR’s win took them to 16 points in 14 games and into the fourth place of the points table.

Suryakumar Yadav during the match against RR at Wankhede on Sunday. He failed to take MI over the line despite scoring 60 off 42 balls. Pic/Ashish Raje

The hosts began their unsuccessful chase of 206 by losing opener Rohit Sharma (0) and one-drop Naman Dhir (6) by the third over, with Archer striking twice. Pacer Nandre Burger (2-43) then dismissed opener Ryan Rickelton (12) as MI slumped to 38-4 inside the Powerplay.

However, Suryakumar Yadav (42-ball 60) at No.4 and Will Jacks (18-ball 33) at No.6 tried their best, stitching a 63-run fifth-wicket stand. Suryakumar added 48 runs in 25 balls with skipper Hardik Pandya (15-ball 34), but that was not enough as the hosts managed only 175-9.

Kieron Pollard. Pic/IPL

Earlier, MI put RR in to bat and thanks to some disciplined bowling, restricted the visitors to 54-3 in the Powerplay. Both openers — Mumbai boy Yashasvi Jaiswal (17-ball 27) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (4) — were back in the pavilion by the fifth over.

Despite no individual scoring a half-century, RR managed to post 205-8 on the board, with wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel (26-ball 38), Archer (15-ball 32), and Dasun Shanaka (15-ball 29) contributing.

MI’s batting coach Kieron Pollard admitted it has been a disappointing season. “To be honest, it has been a season of what ifs. If this had happened, if we had done this, if we had done that. It’s a bit of that. Overall, it has been disappointing for all of us. As a Mumbai Indians team, I’m sure the fans and everyone would have felt the same. There’s no hiding from that. We weren’t good enough throughout the tournament,” Pollard said during the post-match press conference on Sunday.

Pollard credited Archer for his all-around performance. “Not only did he [Archer] bowl well, he batted fantastically as well. Jofra is a class act in any form of cricket. He has bowled some fiery spells throughout this tournament. And today [Sunday], not only did he bowl quickly, but he used variation, changed the pace and stuff like that.”

19
No. of ducks for Rohit Sharma in IPL — joint-most with Glenn Maxwell

19.51
Rohit Sharma’s batting average against RR — the lowest by any player against a single opponent after a minimum of 30 innings

38
No. of sixes for Ryan Rickelton in the ongoing IPL — joint-most for MI in a single IPL edition alongside Suryakumar Yadav (38 in 2025)

15
No. of sixes smashed by RR on Sunday — the most against MI in an IPL innings

10
No. of 200-plus totals at Wankhede in IPL-19 — the most at a venue this season

Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar, who faced West Indies’s fiery pacers in the 1970s and 80s has revealed how his concentration helped him avoid the sledging and disturbance from the opposition’s bowlers.

The former India opener, who is also the first batsman to score 10,000 Test runs, was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of a new cricket show, Midwicket Stories, at a city hotel on Sunday.

When mid-day asked the former India skipper whether there were any incidents in which former Pakistan pacer Imran Khan or some of the other pacers tried to disturb his concentration, Gavaskar said: “No. For me, once I got into a zone seriously, anybody could say anything and it just bounced off.”

When asked how intimidating the WI pacers were, Gavaskar said that they did it without even saying a single word. “They [WI bowlers] would stand in front of you at the end of the follow through, maybe just where you are, maybe just a couple of paces behind where you were, and if you were standing there, they would just raise eyebrows and look at you. That was enough. They didn’t have to say any more. When they looked at you like that, it meant, ‘How come you still survived that kind of situation? Why aren’t you back in the pavilion?’ So that was enough. They didn’t have to say a word,” Gavaskar said.

Meanwhile, speaking about young players losing their cool during the ongoing IPL season, Gavaskar reckoned it is bound to happen in the spur of the moment. “Look, in the heat of the moment, things happen. So, it is not that you teach youngsters anything. Anybody can snap, that is what happens,” Gavaskar concluded.