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Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya was not pleased with his team’s overall effort as they lost by 18 runs to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at home. MI suffered their third consecutive loss on the trot and now sit in the eighth place on the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 points table. Pandya has hinted at making changes to the approach as MI have lost two games while chasing, first against Rajasthan Royals (RR) and then RCB on April 12.
“To be very honest, now a lot of things needs to be rethink (fielding first). Definitely, it’s not working. Couple of games we have won the toss, but maybe we need to see what other options we have as a batting group or bowling group. Looking at the kind of wicket it’s playing, if we can bat as well, that would be good. We still need to play cricket, we still need to bat well, we still need to bowl well. And if we do that, then irrespective of the toss (we will win),” Pandya said in the post-match presentation.
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Pandya feels that MI have been playing catch-up in the last few games instead of dictating terms. He is not happy with how MI have done in powerplay overs, both batting and bowling. MI take on an unbeaten Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their next clash at home on April 16.
“Yes (lost too many wickets) and at the same point of time, I think we conceded way too many (runs) as well. (too many big overs while bowling) I think that was always going to be catch-up. I think in the last couple of games, as a bowling unit or even as a batting unit, we’ve been quite catching up in the game rather than leading the game. We really need to reflect, really need to see what best we can do and how we can get that momentum and that click which we require. We have a couple of days off from here and we will play again,” Pandya said.
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“That’s what we are planning and talking about, how do we get some momentum in powerplay. Because if you see, in both batting and bowling, we are kind of trying to catch up in the powerplay. As you said, a lot of options will be asked and thrown. We will see what we can do in the next game,” he added.
Will Markande face the axe?
Mayank Markande may face the axe as he went for 40 runs in two overs. The leg-spinner has been wicketless for three consecutive games. He has been conceding runs at an economy rate of 15.20 this season. MI can replace with Raghu Sharma
who is yet to make his IPL debut.
MI have also been missing the services of England all-rounder Will Jacks who is yet to link up with the squad.
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