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The match against Royal Challengers Bangalore was very important for Mumbai Indians. Ahead of tonight’s match at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in New Raipur, MI were among the teams languishing at the bottom of the table.
Before the match, while RCB were placed 4th on the points table with 12 points from 10 matches, Suryakumar Yadav’s side was placed 9th in the ongoing Indian Premier League with only 6 points from the same number of matches. Suryakumar Yadav’s team became the second team after LSG to be eliminated from IPL 2026.
A brutal reality check for MI
To keep that hope alive, they had only one option: win all the remaining matches in the fixture. With a total of 14 points, they could keep their dreams and chances alive in the title race. This may seem very easy to do on paper, but in reality it was a very difficult task.
Traditionally, statistically, 14 points may be helpful in keeping prospects alive, but traditionally, 16 points is considered the benchmark. From this point onwards Suryakumar Yadav’s team is not going to get that many points. The second thing is net run rate. His negative run rate had made the situation difficult.
Remaining matches: vs PBKS (away), vs KKR (away), vs RR (home)
Tonight, against Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Suryakumar Yadav-led side (Hardik Pandya is injured) batted first and scored only 166 runs on the board. The brilliant bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who took 4 wickets in 4 overs, did not give any chance to the opposition batsmen to score runs freely. In those 166 runs, Tilak Verma scored 57 runs and Naman Dheer scored 47 runs.
Krunal Pandya looted the party
Mumbai bowlers kept their team in the competition by taking many important wickets. Virat Kohli and Tim David were out on golden ducks. Captain Rajat Patidar and Devdutt Padikkal also lost their guards early, making the match more intense at the New Raipur ground.
While the team’s top batsmen were out early out of nowhere, it was Krunal Pandya who stood tall against all odds and performed well. Krunal Pandya’s inning of 73 runs proved to be decisive in the match. RCB claimed victory on the last ball of the match and Mumbai Indians had to face another disappointing moment.
Difficult pill to swallow: Suryakumar Yadav
“I think he (Raj Bawa) was practicing really well (death bowling), and he was a completely different all-rounder this year. Almost pulled it off for us. I think we were 10-15 runs short.”
After the match, Suryakumar Yadav said, “We can say that there was wrong timing of wickets (while batting). Naman and Tilak batted brilliantly and showed character. I think you practice these things a lot with fielding.”
He said, “The way Tilak came back and took the catch again showed that he wanted to do something special. Part of the game. I think we can try to play this game because we love it. Although we are not used to being in this position very often. It is difficult to swallow. Hopefully we will bounce back well next year. Very proud of the way he (Bosch) bowled in the power play and in all phases.”
Read More: IPL Points Table 2026: Updated Standings, Orange Cap, Purple Cap after RCB vs MI Match 54
