Mumbai Indians remained in despair throughout the league stage of the Indian Premier League, closing out their campaign with four victories from their 14 games. MI registered the most disastrous season under the leadership of new skipper Hardik Pandya, who has been under constant booing and criticism from MI fans. Mumbai Indians never found a ray of hope to revive their campaign, with defeats relentlessly following them. Speaking on a shaky finish, MI head coach Mark Boucher defended skipper Hardik Pandya's performance and captaincy. 

"From a captain's perspective, I thought he had some good games. There's a lot of stuff going on around him that may have clouded his thoughts which is tough on him as a leader as well. He certainly had a lot of support within our dressing room and guys were trying to help him out," Boucher said during the press conference.

"It's a tough thing to go through as a player and there was a lot of sympathy for what he was going through. A lot of stuff that he was going through personally. I think it may be a little uncalled for and you know, it is what it is. It'll certainly be a learning curve for Hardik in his growth in leadership," he said. 

"I think a couple of things will pass and they'll make him a tougher leader and he'll certainly grow in the role as well. So I still think there's some fantastic things coming for Hardik Pandya as a leader. The cricketing side of things, you guys will know the stats," Boucher stated.

Boucher also touched upon the huge amount of booing Pandya received from MI fans during the games. 

"Yes, it wasn't great hearing all the boos. I felt sorry for Hardik as well. It's never nice to have to go through something like that. Yeah, there's certain things that we need to address and as I said, we are going to address them. But now is not probably the right time. Everyone's very disappointed and emotional, so no good decision will get made in the nearest time," he said.