Hardik Pandya apparently made his displeasure known when he reportedly unfollowed the Mumbai Indians on Instagram before following them back after the team’s last-ball defeat to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday. Then again, “apparently” is the key word here. With no screenshots or concrete proof, it could all just be a rumour. But then again, given how the IPL 2026 season has unravelled for MI, the possibility cannot be ruled out either. Hardik has missed the last three games, and while the management has attributed it to back spasm, the fact that Pandya shared a video of training alone in the nets, seemingly in no discomfort, at 1:30 AM has added a whole new layer of intrigue to the situation.
Nonetheless, the development has reached English shores, with Michael Vaughan and Alastair Cook taking note. In a recent episode of the Stick to Cricket podcast, the two former captains discussed the Pandya Instagram ‘drama’, as the YouTube title suggested, calling it absolute disrespect towards the franchise.
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“That’s a big diss in the modern world, isn’t it?” said Cook on reports of Hardik unfollowing MI, to which Vaughan added, “That’s a low blow”. Cook wondered whether Hardik’s injury was legit, and in response, Vaughan said, “he was injured, but they lost to RCB off the last ball”.
‘Worst performance by a team in any tournament’
As the other two former cricketers, Phil Tufnell and David Lloyd, took playful potshots at the entire row, Vaughan added, “That’s the ultimate disrespect.” Reflecting on Hardik’s trade to the Mumbai Indians from the Gujarat Titans in late 2023, Vaughan admitted he was stunned by the five-time champions’ decline. The loss to RCB knocked MI out of this season’s Playoffs race, making them the second team after Lucknow Super Giants to be eliminated.
“He went to Gujarat and won it. Mumbai brought him but they’ve had an absolute stinker. I reckon, with that team and that group of players, I think it’s the worst performance by a team in any tournament. Name me a worse performance by a group that talented. They’ve got Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah,” added Vaughan.
This is the fourth time in the last six years that MI have failed to reach the IPL Playoffs. They made it to the top four in 2023 and 2025 while finishing with the wooden spoon in 2022 and 2024. They are currently second from bottom and, with three games left, risk ending last yet again.