Last Updated on 17 minutes ago by Charbel Coorey
Former Indian cricketer and one of the best spinners in cricket history, Ravichandran Ashwin, has stated why Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya is failing to score runs in the IPL 2026.
Hardik Pandya is going through a lean phase in IPL 2026. He has 146 runs in eight matches at an average of just 20.85 and strike rate of136.44. Pandya’s highest score this season is 40. He is one of MI’s best players, and his poor returns with the bat has affected the team badly, culminating in their poor season to date.
Mumbai Indians are in the 9th position after playing 9 matches. They’ve managed to win only two games till now in IPL 2026 and are most probably out of the playoffs race.
“Hardik should recalibrate the weight of his bat”: Ashwin
Talking on his Hindi YouTube channel, ‘Ash ki Baat,’ alongside journalist Vimal Kumar, the former Indian off-spinner suggested that Hardik Pandya should check the weight of his bat.
Ashwin said, “I have noticed one thing, which is in my mind. I am saying it. It is possible, and that is slightly my feeling. I am saying this because they (MI/Hardik) need to think like this for that ‘reset button’. I have a feeling; I have played with Hardik’s bat before, and his bat is quite heavy.”
He further said, “Sometimes, as you age, there’s this tendency that your hands get slow, and I have a feeling Hardik is late on all these hard-length balls because he’s probably using a heavier bat.”
“Now it’s probably the time for him to look at the weight of his bat; I have this feeling. The bat swing that he’s got is pretty special, but I have noticed that in the last 3-4 games, he is late on Shashank Singh’s hard-length balls. That is very surprising. He can recalibrate the weight of his blade. This was one observation I felt today. I could be wrong, but he can look to recalibrate the weight of his bat,” Ashwin concluded.
MI are all but out of the 2026 playoffs race, sitting ninth as of May 4th with just two wins from their first nine matches.
