Mumbai Indians (MI) will push hard to claim their 6^th Indian Premier League (IPL) title. On paper, their squad is looking like a strong war machine that is ready to conquer the battlefield. But the reality could be different, as some of their key players have been struggling with their form for a long time.

Rohit Sharma remains one of the main topics for discussion related to the league or the team. The former captain of the team was not at its best in the previous IPL 2025 campaign. This season too, the opener’s performance will be under scrutiny throughout the season. Along with Sharma, 2 other stars can also trouble the franchise during the IPL 2026 contest.

3 players who are MI’s biggest burden in IPL 2026:

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma can be a problematic figure for the team if he fails to take off instantly. Whether for Team India or for the Mumbai Indians, the former captain’s inconsistent form often led to a series of criticisms. There are no doubts over his credibility as a T20 opener; the uncertainty remains because of his consistency.

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During the initial stage of the IPL 2025, the Mumbaikar was dismissed cheaply in the back-to-back matches. In 15 matches in 2025 for the Mumbai Indians, he concluded his batting stats with a batting average of 29.85, which was not justifying for a batter of his stature. The fans will definitely wish to see ‘Hitman’ at his peak so that the team can proceed strongly to claim their sixth IPL title.

Suryakumar Yadav

The T20I captain of the Indian cricket team himself can put the team in a difficult position during the title race in the IPL 2026. The batter’s inconsistency has remained a major talking point among the fans since the latter part of 2025.

Yadav was exceptional for the Mumbai Indians in the previous season, scoring 717 runs in 16 matches with a strike rate of 167.92, but dropped drastically when he went to play for the national cricket team.

In the T20 World Cup 2026, the middle-order batter remained mostly off-color. In 9 matches of the tournament, Yadav registered only one half-century, which was against the United States. If his form remains inconsistent, then the 5-time IPL champions may have to think differently.

Hardik Pandya

Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya’s performance will also be scrutinized if he fails again to guide the team to glory. The pace bowling all-rounder will have to maintain a consistent form both with bat and ball to maintain the balance of the playing combination.

With limited batting opportunities in the 2026 T20 World Cup, the middle-order batter registered a couple of half-centuries and a 30 for India, which is decent considering his batting position. With the ball, he took 9 wickets in 9 matches.

In the previous IPL season, he was clearly not at his best as his batting average was 24.89 after 15 games, and he claimed 14 scalps in 15 matches for an economy rate of 9.77.

Read More: Spencer Johnson turns down PSL to join CSK in IPL 2026

MUMBAI: As the global markets enter the fourth week of the war in West Asia, in the domestic market oil & gas, banking and auto stocks are expected to be the main focus of Dalal Street investors in the new but truncated trading week. During the first three weeks, as crude oil prices jumped about 50% from the pre-war levels, these were also the sectors that were hammered the most, BSE data showed. Consider this: Between Feb 27, the day before the war between the US-Israel and Iran started, and Mar 20, BSE’s PSU banking index has lost nearly 13%, the all banking index almost 12%, the oil & gas index 12.2% and the auto index is down 12.1%.At the other end of the spectrum, BSE’s clean environment index was up 2.6% while the utilities index was up a marginal 0.4% and the power index closed just 0.6% down.

Market players feel in the new week, trading trends by foreign funds and the trajectory of the rupee, especially against the dollar, would determine in which direction the two leading indices – sensex and Nifty go. And these two vital factors would be decided by the direction of the war in West Asia.On Friday, while the sensex closed at 74,533 points, down 8.3% since the war started, nifty has lost 7% to close at 23,115 points.According to media reports, the war in West Asia has taken a turn in favour of Iran. Although the US has given a 48-hour deadline to Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, a vital link for the global energy supply chain, Iran has declined to do so. Market players feel this may complicate the old crude oil and natural gas market, keeping prices elevated.Late on Friday, as Brent crude price rallied closer to the $110/barrel level, after initially dipping towards the $100 level early in the session. As a result of the late rally, in the US, Dow Jones index closed 1% lower, the Nasdaq Composite 2% and the S& was down 1.5%. Earlier in the session as oil prices dipped, the sensex closed 326 points or 0.4% higher.According to Ajit Mishra, SVP – research, Religare Broking, the upcoming week is expected to remain data-sensitive amid ongoing global uncertainties. “Developments in the West Asia conflict and movements in crude oil prices will continue to act as key external drivers and are likely to dictate the near-term market trend,” Mishra wrote in a note.“On the domestic front, investors will closely monitor HSBC Flash PMI data for manufacturing, services, and Composite segments, which will provide an early indication of business activity trends. Additionally, Industrial Production data will be tracked for insights into the strength of economic momentum.”As regards FPI selling, market players are surprised at the speed of selling from stocks (over Rs 93,600 crore net outflow in March so far). “The complete negative stance of the FPIs towards India is evident from the fact that they are selling recklessly without regard for valuations,” said V K Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist, Geojit Investments. “A reversal of FPI selling will happen only when the war ends and normalcy returns to the market.”

Mumbai: BMC has got only one bid for the around Rs 980-crore tender floated last Oct for turnkey development of common infrastructure facilities at the Deonar abattoir complex as part of modernisation plans even after several deadline extensions. It also received only two proposals for four separate requests for proposal (RFPs), worth over Rs 250 crore, for construction and operation of species-specific abattoirs under a public-private partnership (PPP) model.Civic officials said the tender scrutiny committee will examine whether to go ahead with the single bid and also take a decision on the RFPs. “Of the two proposals, one is for the buffalo unit and the other for sheep/goats. We are examining the parameters of the technical bid for turnkey development and the company will be asked to make a presentation on how it would implement the project. Thereafter, the scrutiny committee will take a decision on opening the financial packet. As per the rules, we have given more than three extensions. So, we can go ahead with the project even if there is just a single bidder,” said a senior official. The project aims to transform the existing semi-mechanised setup into a state-of-the-art, hygienic facility to match global standards. It will introduce humane practices, like automated electrical stunners, group stunning pens using captive bolt or electrical methods, and carbon dioxide stunning technology, which induces unconsciousness without physical restraint. Under turnkey development, one contractor handles all stages—from design to final handover. This work includes building buffalo, goat and sheep lairage, administrative building, skill development centre, bio-methanisation and effluent treatment plant. The RFPs are targeted at development of ancillary facilities, such as dedicated units for slaughtering buffalo, goat/sheep, pig and poultry, along with rendering, with total slaughtering capacities ranging from 1,100 buffaloes to 10,000 goats/sheep, 500 pigs and 40,000 poultry birds per day. The PPP partner will build the facilities and provide slaughter and quartering services at rates fixed by BMC. It will bear the entire capital expenditure and a percentage of the total revenue will have to be shared with the civic body.

HDFC Bank CEO and MD Sashidhar Jagdishan said in an interview with TOI that there were matters on which he and the former chairman agreed to disagree, and these were dealt with maturity on the board, and his resignation came as a surprise. However, Chinese whispers gave these a dramatic flavour outside.When did you come to know about the resignation of Atanu Chakraborty?After 4 pm, there were a few members who were a part of the nomination and remuneration committee (NRC), who got to know at about 2:30 p.m. But, I got to know as the meeting was being opened up.What was your initial reaction?Obviously, like every other member of the board, I was very shocked because there was no reason until then for him to do what he did because he was at the helm; he was rather intense and enjoying his role. He was efficiently handling the matters. So, we did ask him. We were even more shocked by the insertion of these two lines. We asked him, “If you do have any concerns or issues, why don’t you please table the same?” To which he said there were no issues to share. The board asked him vociferously to remove it. He remained steadfast and we had to accept and move on.Has the board constituted a committee or is looking at an independent evaluation? Will you recuse yourself in case of an enquiry?We will be convening multiple board meetings during the course of the week. There will be other meetings which we will convene to constitute such studies or examinations as they deem appropriate. It is very premature. If the board process says it is going to be independent, whether it’s a committee or otherwise, I’m not going to be a part of the committee.As CEO, are you comfortable with an independent investigation? Do you see the need for a completely independent panel?My personal view is that we should have one, ideally, an independent person as well in the committee. As to an independent panel, I need to understand… Are there people who will be available? Or whether there can be a firm which can be constituted? I’m not able to visualise as to what the collective body would be thinking about. But heart of hearts, that’s the right thinking to do-to have an independent person or an independent body of persons.There have been rumours about issues between you and the former chairman which led to this episode… In good governance, it is important that there are constructive deliberations and discussions. But I need to put my differing views on the table and not necessarily accept whatever is being thrust upon. I would expect a similar thought process in board and committee discussions. So, I’m not apologetic that there have been cases where we have agreed to disagree. But, it is only on substantive matters, and not on all matters. They could be people issues. For example, we would have a view as management on promotions or in reorganisations. Or, it could be performance assessment matrices: what should be thresholds for a good performance.There was talk that the former chairman had strong views on some issues and addressed executives, and at some point, RBI had a word with him. Are you aware of that?No, on the latter one, I don’t have visibility. I’m not aware of this. But, the ultimate authority of approval is with NRC, where he’s just a member; he is not the one who does that. One report spoke about a power struggle in management… there have been talks about division heads behaving like satraps…One of the positives of HDFC Bank is there are people with a lot of institutional knowledge. This gives solidity to the organisation. So, if some people have this perception, that is unfortunate. I am proud of my team. I wish I could protect and have all of them during my tenure. And, if at all I’m nominated or if the approvals come even in future, I would like to carry on with my team. If I’m unable to satisfy their ambitions, I’ll be sad to see them go. But having said that, we have enough depth in the organization.The action against the employees for mis-selling was taken immediately after the chairman resigned. There are reports of a police complaint filed by an employee, which triggered all this. Can you clarify?No link exists between the AT1 bond issue and the chairman’s exit. There is a timing overlap, nothing more. The Dubai regulator triggered a review that examined staff accountability, with the disciplinary panel sending findings to the board’s nomination committee, reflecting a rule-bound process. The issue was a Dubai onboarding/documentation gap, not mis-selling. Gaps were identified and actions taken across levels. In the Credit Suisse issue, the clients were well off and could take rational financial decisions. But when they lost money, they tried to find technical loopholes and tried to pin blame on the distributor. . On social media, there are complaints over mis-selling by the bank and also allegations against senior management persons. I’m happy to say that despite being one of the largest institutions in terms of distributing third-party products, we have one of the lowest mis-selling complaints accepted. I am not apologetic about it.