Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya didn’t look too bothered after his team suffered another loss in IPL 2026 and finished ninth on the points table with four wins and 10 defeats.
On Sunday afternoon at the Wankhede Stadium, Riyan Parag‘s Rajasthan Royals, who needed to win to qualify for the play-offs, were put into bat by Pandya, but despite losing wickets at regular intervals, they managed to post a competitive total of 205. MI made a match of it, but for the large part of their chase, they didn’t look comfortable. They eventually lost by 30 runs to end their campaign on a sad note.
Pandya, who has been in the firing line all through the season, however, was surprisingly chirpy in the post-match interview. His body language didn’t suggest one bit that he had captained a team that lost 10 games in IPL 2026.
“I think [MI gave away] 10-15 runs more. It was quite hot as well, and the bowlers did a pretty good job. It was chaseable, we just lost a lot of wickets in the power play, and then it was always a catch-up game,” he said.
Pandya came good with the bat! That probably explains
Hardik looked good, though, during his short stay at the crease. He scored 34 off 15 balls and threw a big scare into the RR bowlers. Maybe that was the reason why he wasn’t feeling so bad. After all, he had done his bit.
“When I went to bat, it felt like it was coming on nicely. It [the pitch] played similarly in both innings. It was coming onto the bat. Just had to hold your shape and play good cricketing shots. Death overs are always difficult, and I always believe that if you can stop 1-2 boundaries in that 5-overs bracket, the opposition will always be 12-15 runs short. Unfortunately, we could not do that. 73 in the last 5 cost us the game as well,” Pandya continued.
Pandya didn’t bowl a single delivery in the match, though. During the game, he was seen stretching. When asked if something was wrong with him, he answered in the negative. “Everything is fine. I bat, I bowl, I field, I skip [skipper he meant], so it’s okay, it’s fair for me to have a game where I just batted and enjoyed myself,” he said.
Right there, Pandya gave away why he was feeling good. He had batted well after all. Anyway, it will be interesting to see if he would be back as MI captain next year or even as a player. In his three seasons as captain with MI so far, they have been quite substandard. 10th finish in 2024, play-off appearance in 2025 and 9th this season.
When all is said and done, he should have been a bit despondent after his team disappointed its fans massively.
