Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya was visibly upset after his team experienced a third straight loss in IPL 2026, falling to arch-rivals Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 18 runs at their own den, Wankhede Stadium, on Sunday. MI, pursuing a daunting 241-run target, were consistently under pressure following RCB’s onslaught, which powered them to an impressive 240/4, driven by fifties from Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, and Rajat Patidar. Even with a solid beginning from Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton, Mumbai were never really in the chase, ultimately ending at 222/5, where Sherfane Rutherford’s unbeaten 71 was the only notable contribution.
In the locker room following the game, Hardik spoke to the team with head coach Mahela Jayawardene and encouraged the players to react unitedly to the loss instead of separating themselves.
He said, “Thinking from what MJ said, I think here there are two options we can do. One is go back in our rooms, go back into our cocoon spaces and try to figure it out. I know it’s tough losing but let’s learn… let’s not get disappeared. But let’s learn. It’s always winning and learning, never losing. So let’s do that. That’s something which tonight after the game, once we go back to hotel, let’s have a meal together, we’ll talk about cricket. We’ll talk about something else but we’ll figure it out,” Hardik said in the dressing room.
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“𝘓𝘦𝘵’𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴” – Captain HP’s message to the team! 💙 pic.twitter.com/UAJ36N0ceq
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 13, 2026
Hardik Pandya on RCB vs MI: We conceded too many runs
In light of the loss, Hardik acknowledged that MI have had difficulty crossing the finish line in recent matches, frequently ending up chasing rather than setting the pace.
After the match, he said, “I think we conceded way too many runs. I think that (241-run target) 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. (bat second the way to go here?) To be very honest, now a lot of things needs to be rethink. 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,” Hardik said.
With this win, RCB now have three victories in four IPL 2026 matches so far and find themselves positioned third in the IPL 2026 points table with six points and the Net Run Rate of +1.148.
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Vishal Pushkar is a Chief Sub-Editor with NewsX and has been associated with the company since March 2026. He has been working as a journalist since 2021. His experience includes working with Zee Media, Amazon and Dainik Jagran. Vishal holds a BA (English Honours) degree from Shyam Lal College, University of Delhi and a Post-Graduate Diploma from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi. Vishal has completed a beginner’s course in the German language as well.
