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Shardul Thakur opens up about Hardik Pandya missing the previous few games for Mumbai Indians and also reacts to the rumors that the all-rounder would leave the franchise.

Mumbai Indians have already been knocked out of the playoff race for IPL 2026 after a below-par campaign. The five-time winners are languishing at the ninth spot on the points table with only four victories in twelve games.

Hardik missed the last encounter against Punjab Kings with Jasprit Bumrah taking over captaincy responsibilities for the first time. MI still managed to chase 201 runs and clinched a thriller victory, thanks to Tilak Varma's unbeaten 75 off 33 balls.

In the post-match press conference after the encounter against Punjab Kings, Shardul explained about the injury Hardik is suffering from. Hardik is training in Mumbai and it is expected that he might play against Kolkata Knight Riders.

During the press conference, Shardul stated:

"Hardik is injured, so he could not travel for a couple of games. He went to Raipur [for the game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on May 10], but could not play. He is training in Mumbai now, and I expect him to be back in Kolkata and play against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) next Wednesday. Players like them, we always miss the quality."

Along with Hardik, Suryakumar Yadav also missed out on the game against Punjab Kings due to personal commitments after the birth of his child.

Shardul played a key role in Mumbai's win with a figure of 4/39 and led the bowling attack remarkably.

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With Hardik not in the picture, the speculation regarding his future with Mumbai Indians is also running rife ahead of the next IPL season. Discussions and reports surrounding a possible trade has been circulating all over social media since past few days.

Shardul however, had a word on the rumours and said that the decision will be completely up to the team management to trade any player from the team.

Shardul said:

"Chatter always keeps going on social media. Some are true, and some are false. But only the team management decides in the end."

Hardik has been finding difficult to be at his best this season as the MI captain has accumulated 146 runs in 8 matches at a strike rate of about 136. The all-rounder has picked up just 4 wickets till now. Mumbai Indians would definitely want the captain to get his form back, so that they could finish the rest of their matches on a high.