'Not the season': Hardik Pandya's honest confession after MI's 8-wicket loss to CSK almost closes door to playoffs

Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya accepted that MI was inferior in all three departments in their game against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) where the team lost by eight wickets and is on the verge of being eliminated from the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

This was MI's seventh loss of the season, and they have only won two games so far. They are not mathematically out, but would need to win all their upcoming games and would hope for a miracle to reach the playoffs.

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What Hardik Pandya said about MI's defeat

Hardik Pandya admitted that the Mumbai Indians were completely outplayed by the Chennai Super Kings in all three departments—batting, bowling, and fielding—during the match. He clarified that his assessment was specific to the game and not the team’s overall season.

"Not the season. They played better, they bowled better, they fielded better, and they batted better," Pandya said.

Pandya added that he felt that a total in the range of 180–190 should have been competitive on the surface, but MI failed to build momentum at any stage of the match and ended up playing reactive, cautious cricket instead of taking control.

"180-190 should have been a good total. We couldn't get the momentum. It was more about taking calculative cricket," Hardik Pandya added.

He further acknowledged that CSK executed their plans better, especially with the ball, while MI’s batting unit failed to match that level. Pandya also defended his team’s tactical decisions, stating that they went with the available bowling options and plans, even though the execution did not go their way on the day.

"Overall, as a bowling unit, they were better and as a batting unit, we weren't better. The bowling options that we had, we went with it," Pandya concluded.

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Trivia about CSK's IPL domination over MI

After this win over MI, CSK have won six of the last seven encounters against MI in IPL since 2023. Also, this eight-wicket win is CSK’s biggest against MI in the IPL. Furthermore, this is the third time CSK has achieved a league double over MI in an IPL season after 2014 and 2023.