Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin believes Suryakumar Yadav should have been Mumbai Indians’ skipper for the upcoming IPL 2026. SKY recently led India to the T20 World Cup glory and has been leading with aplomb since 2024.

Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya was given the captaincy onus ahead of IPL 2024 as he took over the baton from former skipper Rohit Sharma. MI had a horrible run in IPL 2024, finishing as the cellar-dwellers with only four wins in 14 games however, they were able to qualify for the playoffs in the previous season. 

Ravichandran Ashwin said on his YouTube Channel, “If you individualistically look at this, Surya will be saying, ‘I should also be the captain of an IPL franchise’. I think Surya will be thinking like that. It’s only human to think like that because he has just won a World Cup as a captain. But, for Surya the batter, it is just let loose and enjoy. Last year also he had a pretty decent time.”

“In my view, Suryakumar Yadav being the captain of Mumbai Indians is a no-brainer. He should be given the captaincy. And the fact that that is not happening, I am sure, is a bit of a concern.”

Ashwin noted that Pandya took some time to hit the ground running as MI captain and it is challenging for him as SKY has done well as the Indian captain.

“If we look at Hardik Pandya, as the Gujarat Titans’ captain, had a title in his first season and was a runner-up in the second season. When he came to Mumbai, the expectation was that he will be the captain and continue the trend. But it took him a year to handle Rohit Sharma and all those sagas.

“Now, he is having to compete with this lot of people telling him that Suryakumar Yadav is the incumbent Indian team captain, but Hardik is the captain of Mumbai. It is a very challenging thing. A lot of things can go through his mind.” Ashwin concluded.

Mumbai Indians will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium on 29th March.