Hardik Pandya has had a season to forget. He has scored just 146 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 and is yet to score a fifty in eight innings. Even with the ball, Hardik has picked up just four wickets at an economy rate of 12.26. Mumbai Indians (MI) have consequently struggled in the season, winning just two out of their eight matches so far.
On May 2 (Saturday) against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Pandya’s season went from bad to worse as he registered one of the worst strike rates by an MI captain in the IPL. The unfortunate record for the worst strike rate in the tournament for MI belongs to Rohit Sharma.
Lowest strike rate for MI captain in IPL (Min 20 balls faced)
62.5 Rohit Sharma vs PBKS, Visakhapatnam, 2016
78.26 Hardik Pandya vs CSK, Chennai, 2026
81.81 Rohit Sharma vs CSK, Chennai, 2015
84.84 Ricky Ponting vs RCB, Bengaluru, 2013
88.09 Sachin Tendulkar vs DCH, Mumbai, 2011
Pandya scored 18 off 23 deliveries, with just a couple of boundaries to his name.
From 90/2 at the end of the 10th over, MI managed just 69 more runs in the second half of the innings to get to 159/7. Naman Dhir top-scored with 57 off 37, while Ryan Rickelton (37 off 24) and Suryakumar Yadav (21 off 12) made useful contributions.
For CSK, Anshul Kamboj was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/32, while Noor Ahmad chipped in with a couple of wickets as well.
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