Fact check – Hardik Pandya unfollowed Mumbai Indians on Instagram?:MI skipper out with injury, team eliminated from playoffs race

Mumbai Indians suffered a narrow 2-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday, with captain Hardik Pandya sidelined for a second consecutive game through injury. With their marquee skipper sidelined, MI slumped to their 8th defeat of the season. Pandya was ruled out of MI’s match against Lucknow Super Giants due to a back spasm as the franchise picked up a much-needed win, but their hopes of reaching the playoffs were dashed after the loss to RCB. Pandya sat out of the fixture against RCB due to the back issue, missing a second straight fixture, and speculation is rife that all is not well between the player and the franchise. Reports emerged on social media that Hardik Pandya had unfollowed the franchise on social media platform Instagram, and that he had also removed all collaborative posts with MI. But did Hardik actually unfollow MI on social media? Fact check: Did Hardik Pandya unfollow Mumbai Indians? Several social media users started sharing screenshots of Hardik Pandya’s Instagram account after MI’s loss to RCB. They claimed that the star skipper had unfollowed his own team; however, that’s not the case. For the unversed, the 32-year-old is still following the team that he leads, and his old posts in Mumbai Indians’ jersey are still visible. That being said, many experts are questioning Pandya for his own form and the team’s collective performances. MI are languishing in 9th place in the points table, having won only 3 matches all season. Apart from the poor form of marquee players like Suryakumar Yadav, and Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik himself has not had the best performances this season. Hardik has played 8 games this season, scoring a modest 146 runs with a strike rate of 136, and his highest score was 40. With the ball, the star all-rounder has picked up 4 wickets, numbers that don’t justify his own lofty standards. What next for Hardik Pandya and Mumbai Indians? Several former cricketers have questions Hardik’s move back to MI since helping Gujarat Titans win the IPL in 2022. In 3 years, MI only reached the playoffs last season, and as the captain of MI, Hardik has won only 37.83% games. He has led the franchise in 37 games, winning 14 while losing 23 matches. The five-time IPL winners can no longer reach the playoffs and their only goal from their remaining matches will be to finish as high in the points table as possible to salvage some pride.