Hardik Pandya has sparked fresh speculation about his future with the Mumbai Indians (MI) after fans noticed he had unfollowed the franchise on Instagram. This happened after MI lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on May 10 in Raipur in their latest IPL 2026 game.

This also meant that MI were knocked out of the IPL 2026 playoffs race, with only 3 wins in 11 games and 8 losses to their name.

On social media, the activity soon gained popularity, and many people connected it to the escalating fallout rumors surrounding Mumbai's challenging season.

Hardik's Instagram profile apparently displayed 150 accounts being followed for a short while following the game; however, the Mumbai Indians were not included in that list.

However, a few minutes later, supporters saw that the figure had returned to 151, with the Mumbai Indians once more showing up among the accounts that Pandya was following. That brief social media activity sparked online rumors.

Because Hardik's comeback to the Mumbai Indians and his nomination as captain prior to IPL 2024 had already caused division among certain MI supporters, the scenario attracted even more attention.

Since then, every challenging stage involving the team or the captain has been closely examined on the internet.

Following MI's loss to RCB, a number of social media users posted screenshots of the Mumbai Indians absent from Hardik's following list.  But a few minutes later, the MI account reappeared on his profile, leaving many to speculate as to whether it was an unintentional unfollow, a technical issue, or a sincere moment of annoyance following the defeat.  There has been no official confirmation from either Hardik Pandya or the Mumbai Indians regarding this. Notably, Hardik Pandya didn’t travel with the MI squad to Raipur, as he is still being treated for his back spasms, and he has missed the last two games for the MI team.

With Hardik out, Suryakumar Yadav stepped in to captain the side following the birth of his daughter earlier this week.