Hardik Pandya & Rishabh Pant in IPL 2025. Credits- BCCI
Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) is where talent meets opportunity. Not just for players, but this season of the lucrative league has given limitless opportunities to the captains. Leaders like Rajat Patidar, Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan have done exceedingly well, but the likes of Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant have been utter disappointments.
The failures in captaincy have been the biggest reasons for the downfall of the Mumbai Indians (MI) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), who were the first teams to get eliminated.
Not just for MI and LSG, IPL 2026 has been a disappointing season for a couple more teams as well.
Three captains to lose jobs after IPL 2026
After MI failed to qualify for the playoffs, MI skipper Hardik Pandya faced serious backlash, having won just two games in eight attempts. It has also been reported that the franchise has started to move past Pandya for the upcoming season.
However, as a report from PTI, three captains may lose their jobs at their respective franchises after the end of this season. Interestingly, the report hasn’t stated the MI captain among the three captains, but named Axar Patel, Rishabh Pant and Ajinkya Rahane.
"Three IPL captains are in the line of fire due to campaigns that have been nothing short of disastrous and they could end up losing their jobs when the season winds up later this month, sources tracking developments in various franchises have indicated. Axar Patel, Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant have captained for two successive seasons and failed miserably in their bid to take their respective teams into the playoffs,” the PTI report stated.
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Axar Patel failing due to over-involvement of coaches
The report specifically talked about the DC skipper, Axar Patel, and the over-involvement of the coaches. With GMR at the helm, Hemang Badani and Venugopal Rao are in leadership over the likes of Saurav Ganguly.
IPL 2026 has been such a disappointment for DC that even Axar Patel admitted his team's exit even before the officially get out.
"With Axar completely failing to prove his leadership worth and mostly being dependant on Hemang Badani and Venugopal Rao for decision making, it will be a miracle if he retains captaincy next year. The entire coaching staff is also unlikely to be retained," it added.
It is worth noting that the Capitals, co-owned by GMR and JSW, change their management every two years, with the two bosses taking equal turns at the reins of the franchise.
Why Ajinkya Rahane getting the heat?
Among the three mentioned captains, Ajinkya Rahane has been the best, with the experienced campaigner performing well both as a batter and a captain.
Under his captaincy, KKR have won four matches in 11 outings, but those victories came back-to-back after not being able to win a single match in the first six attempts. However, after losing to RCB, the three-time champions are on the verge of elimination. Meanwhile, Rahane, as a batter, has scored 237 with a best score of 67.
Having said that, if KKR fail to qualify for the playoffs, it will be their second failed attempt in a row - both under Rahane's captaincy. Thus, the Mumbaikar, who got the captaincy in a make-shift move, is facing the backlash.
Nevertheless, KKR's remaining league matches are against GT, MI and DC in that order.
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