With the Mumbai Indians enduring a disappointing IPL 2026 campaign, former India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has come to the defence of captain Hardik Pandya, stating that the team’s poor performances should not be pinned on him alone. MI, who have won just four of their 12 matches this season, were the second team to be eliminated from playoff contention, with their captain struggling with form and injury. “I wouldn’t review his captaincy this year at all. Honestly, when you have seasons like this, to pin the blame on the captain is quite unfair. Nobody has turned up. The team has failed to turn up and for Hardik to take the blame on himself is… you’re asking him to do a little too much,” Ashwin told ESPNcricinfo.

Ashwin highlighted the context of Pandya’s return to MI in 2024 after a successful stint with the Gujarat Titans, where he led the franchise to a title and a runners-up finish.

“He was there at Gujarat Titans. Had two fabulous seasons (one title and one runners-up finish). So clearly, as a leader, he did something right there. And when he returned to Mumbai Indians, he had to deal with quite a bit. It’s not easy to replace an incumbent Indian captain, white-ball captain, such as Rohit Sharma. Five (six) titles in the IPL. He’s won a T20 World Cup. And Hardik comes and replaces him. You’ve got a lot of fandom going around in the country. You should have a thick skin to survive the social media these days,” Ashwin added.

Ashwin also stressed that captaincy is not solely responsible for a team’s failures as he said, “I wouldn’t judge his captaincy much because the bowling has also leaked (runs in) every direction. Every single time an over is bowled for six or seven runs, in comes a 15-run over. So what do you do as a captain? And sure, he’s made some calls that have been debatable. (But) captaincy is the result of how your team is making you look. So which is why I believe when you have a good season, don’t give too much credit to a captain. When you have a bad season, don’t pin it on him. And similar with the coach; the coach sends the players out. So you can’t blame him too much.”

This season, Pandya’s struggles have been stark. Since returning to MI as captain in 2024, he has yet to win a trophy for the franchise. In IPL 2026, he scored just 146 runs from eight innings at a strike rate of 136.44, with a best of 40, and took only four wickets at an economy of 11.90.

Beyond leadership, Ashwin expressed concern about Pandya’s batting, noting unusual timing issues, stating, “With his (Hardik’s) batting, I found something quite interesting and strange, which is how late he’s been on the ball. Is he going through something physically? We wouldn’t be able to know that if there is something, then maybe that physical aspect will bring him back. And if he gets better, he’ll come back to it. But he’s been late on the hard-length deliveries.”

“He’s not someone who’s going to miss hard-length deliveries. He hits it 15 rows back. That’s a bit of a concern for me, whether he’s suffering something physically from a back issue or hands, or does he have a tennis elbow? Is his bat heavier (than it should be)? Does he need to recalibrate that? Those are things that I would want to know,” he added.

The team has also struggled collectively, with other stars like Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah having similarly modest campaigns. Pandya has additionally been sidelined due to a reported back issue, missing three games, with Suryakumar and Bumrah stepping in as stand-in captains. Despite the struggles, Ashwin reaffirmed Pandya’s value.

“Hardik is a once-in-a-generation player. You don’t find such players. And if India finds itself in a certain T20 mastery now, Hardik’s been a linchpin in that. And to me, Hardik, the player, you can have a bad season. It’s digestible for me. Especially after you had a (T20) World Cup like that. Hardik likes a bit of space. He kind of stays in his own zone. So the only thing I’d be worried about is how late he’s been on the ball when he’s batting. Apart from that, it’s okay. I wouldn’t judge any of the other aspects of his game,” the former India spinner mentioned.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Back to full fitness after an uninterrupted winter, Pattison, the second-fastest British 800m runner in history, is desperate to clinch more major silverware on home soil this summer.

The 24-year-old announced himself on the global stage by claiming a surprise 800m bronze in his first world final in Budapest in 2023, and moved behind only Sebastian Coe on the British all-time list the following season.

But, after illness disrupted his Olympic preparations and his 2025 plans were ruined by a stress fracture, Pattison is targeting European and Commonwealth medals in Birmingham and Glasgow respectively.

Speaking to BBC Sport before competing in China, Pattison said: “The plan is to do both and my goal is to get two medals. It’s been three years now since I’ve got a medal at a major championship, so I feel like it’s been far too long.

“I was asked at the world indoors: ‘Do you feel like you need to get a medal again?’ And I was thinking, hang on, I’m still quite young – but it does almost feel like that.

“I don’t like the fact that people still reference Budapest. That was good, and if you had told me when I was younger that I’d retire with a world and a Commonwealth bronze medal, I’d have definitely taken that.

“But to achieve that by the age of 21, I’d like to think by the end of my career I’ll definitely be able to get more medals – and that’s what really gets me going.”

Ronda Rousey worked with WWE from 2017 to 2019, and then again from 2022 to 2023. She made quite the impact during her two runs with the company.

In 2019, WWE had the first-ever main event with female superstars. Rousey vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch at WrestleMania 35 in a Winner Takes All match. Both the then-RAW Women’s Championship and then-SmackDown Women’s Championship were on the line at the match. Lynch won that match to become Becky Two Belts, and Rousey disappeared from WWE TV.

While speaking to Zack Heydorn of SI’s The Takedown, Rousey revealed that before taking time off for her pregnancy, Rousey had pitched a singles feud against Becky Lynch to WWE, which Vince McMahon absolutely loved.

“After WrestleMania, I literally printed out a whole presentation for them, for me and Becky — the singles match,” Rousey said. “How we would do it, how we would plan it out and rehearse these things and have them woven throughout the show. To do something really exceptional and new, and then Vince and them were like, ‘oh yeah, this is a great idea, this is great.’ Then I went and had my baby, I came back, and they were like, well, we talked about that a year ago”, said Ronda Rousey.

However, when she returned in 2022, it never came to fruition. She feuded with Charlotte Flair in 2022, but not with Becky Lynch, even though it was teased.

“They said, ‘We love this plan, it’s an epic showdown with you and Becky that’s going to build all year.’ I wanted to make basically a final showdown of me and Becky woven throughout the entirety of the show. It would summarize the entire rivalry for anyone watching it for the first time. Someone could watch it and not need to watch everything that came beforehand. It would sum it up and then deliver the ending. I thought it was fucking incredible and it was why I came back,” she added. [H/t: The Takedown]

Ronda Rousey opened up about working with Vince McMahon

During an interview with Complex, Ronda Rousey opened up about working with WWE’s former CEO. She claimed that things had taken a poor turn, given the internal turmoil within WWE.

The environment lacked concrete plans, and more often than not, talents were under stress about how the shows would proceed.

She showered praise on Triple H taking over, revealing that she was Team Triple H already. Unfortunately, she never got to experience it.

Ronda Rousey is returning to MMA on May 16 to take on Gina Carano during Most Valuable Promotion’s debut on Netflix.