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New Delhi: Former Team India cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth has made a big claim about the Mumbai Indians team. In this season, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav took the responsibility of captaincy for Mumbai Indians. Mumbai Indians: After poor performance in IPL 2026, this team is out of the race for the playoffs. The team was looking very lethargic but the moment they took the field against Punjab Kings under the captaincy of Jasprit Bumrah, they looked united. This opinion has been expressed by Chris Srikanth. In a way, he believes that the team has looked more united in the absence of Hardik Pandya.

Are Mumbai Indians happier without Hardik Pandya?

Srikanth, a member of the 1983 World Cup winning team, said on his YouTube channel, this is a good decision. I think making Bumrah the captain is a great step. There is definitely some internal issue. There is no doubt that the atmosphere of the team seemed very light-hearted. Suddenly the team seems much more united as a collective unit. Surya also did not play in that match, he was sitting out due to personal reasons. But despite this the young team suddenly came together exactly as you described.

The team looks united

He further said, Deepak Chahar is bowling well. Raj Angad Bawa is also bowling well. Everyone is contributing. Tilak Verma performed brilliantly. Ryan Rickelton exploded with aggressive shots from the beginning and completely dominated the match. Even though he was facing disappointment, he showed tremendous determination to succeed. This is the beauty of cricket, that energy could be clearly felt inside him.

Srikanth gave a shocking statement

Srikkanth noted that Jasprit Bumrah was clearly happy bowling under his captaincy and the rest of the bowling attack also seemed more confident under his leadership. The former cricketer further said, if you see the entire bowling unit together, Bumrah himself was constantly smiling.

Bumrah’s captaincy is better

He was instilling a lot of confidence in the bowlers and I felt that players like Deepak Chahar benefited a lot from Bumrah’s captaincy. Shardul Thakur also did not bowl loosely nor did he waste runs. Every bowler got a wicket in this match. Against Punjab Kings, Mumbai successfully achieved the target of more than 200 runs. MI did not get any concrete benefit from this win but it has made it very difficult for Punjab to reach the playoffs as it was PBKS’s fifth consecutive defeat this season.