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Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya spoke emotionally after Mumbai suffered yet another defeat to end their disappointing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 campaign.
After opting to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai’s star-studded batting lineup featuring names like Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, and Hardik himself failed to chase down a target of 205.
MI eventually finished on 175 runs in their 20 overs, suffering their tenth defeat of the season.
Hardik Pandya opens up after another painful MI defeat
Speaking after the match, Pandya admitted that MI conceded extra runs during the death overs and felt the game remained chaseable despite the difficult target.
"I think 10-15 runs (more we gave with the ball). It was quite hot as well, bowlers did a pretty good job."
"It was chaseable, we just lost a lot of wickets in powerplay and then it was always a catch up game."
The MI skipper also felt the pitch behaved similarly in both innings and batting conditions remained good throughout the contest.
"When I went to bat it felt like it was coming on nicely. It played similar in both innings."
"It was coming on the bat. Just had to hold your shape and play good cricketing shots."
Hardik Pandya further highlighted how RR’s explosive finish in the final overs proved decisive in the game.
"Death overs are always difficult and I always believe that if you can stop 1-2 boundaries in that 5-over bracket, you'll always be 12-15 runs short."
"Unfortunately we could not do that. 73 in the last 5 cost us the game as well."
However, it was Hardik’s brutally honest comment regarding his workload that grabbed the most attention after the game.
"Everything is fine (when asked about the stretching he was doing)."
"I bat, I bowl, I field, I skip, so it's okay, it's fair for me to have a game where I just batted and enjoyed as well."
Mumbai Indians endure nightmare IPL 2026 season
Mumbai Indians endured one of the worst IPL campaigns in the franchise’s rich history this season.
After beginning their campaign with a win against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), MI went on to lose four consecutive matches before briefly reviving their season with a victory against Gujarat Titans (GT).
However, the momentum did not last long as the team again slipped into another poor run, losing three matches on the trot and eventually managing to win only four games throughout the tournament.
Despite possessing one of the strongest batting lineups on paper, Mumbai’s star-studded batting unit failed to consistently deliver this season.
At the same time, even their experienced bowling attack featuring Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, and Deepak Chahar lacked their usual firepower.
The disappointing performances eventually resulted in MI crashing out of playoff contention well before the end of the league stage.
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