Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene opened up about the challenges the team faced due to the poor performance of some senior players.
Jayawardene especially talked about the poor form of the giants. hardik pandya And Suryakumar Yadav. MI’s full-time and vice-captain respectively have not been at their best this year. Combined with other challenges, this means that Mumbai Indians are now officially out of the race for the playoffs in IPL 2026.
key points
- Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene has defended Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav despite their poor performances in the IPL 2026 season.
- MI are officially out of the IPL 2026 playoff race after their last-ball defeat to RCB.
- Jayawardene said the senior players were still giving full effort and commitment despite the poor results.
- Both Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav have struggled badly with the bat this season
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Mumbai Indians are out after losing on the last ball against Royal Challengers Bangalore
But Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium In Raipur, MI and RCB played a thrilling game for the ages. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was at his attacking best in the powerplay, taking three wickets – including that of stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav, for a duck on the first ball – and reclaimed the Purple Cap.
Tilak Verma and Naman Dheer tried to stabilize the ship, but could not do much. Dheer was out in the 13th over and Bhuvneshwar came back to dismiss Tilak Verma in the 18th over. Mumbai Indians could score only 17 runs in the last three overs and RCB needed 167 runs to top the table.
RCB’s goal did not go according to plan at all. Virat Kohli Golden was out for a duck while Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar were both out in the powerplay. Deepak Chahar dismissed Kohli and Padikkal, while Corbin Bosch dismissed Patidar.
Krunal Pandya and Jacob Bethel put RCB on the path to victory with a 55-run partnership. But, Bosch’s work was not complete. Bosch dismissed Bethel in the 13th over and then cut short the innings of Jitesh Sharma in the 16th over. Bosch put RCB in trouble by dismissing Jitesh and Tim David on consecutive balls.
With 30 runs required from the last three overs, Krunal decided to take charge. He went after AM Ghazanfar in an eventful over, hitting two sixes, one catch and ultimately Krunal was dismissed for 73.
Jasprit Bumrah In the 19th over, when RCB needed 18 runs from 12 balls to win, he showed why he is among the best by giving away just three runs. The inexperienced Raj Bawa was asked to defend 15 runs in the last over.
Three wides and one no-ball on the first two legal balls of the over resulted in a total of five runs. When 10 runs were required from 4 balls, Bava dismissed Romario Shepherd. A more detailed follow-up followed. With 9 runs required off 3, Bhuvneshwar Kumar decided to go for it and managed to score six runs over cover while facing the first legal delivery. He took a run on the next ball and brought Rasikh Salam Dar on strike, scoring two runs on the last ball.
Dar pushed a fuller ball back to the bowler, who misfielded it, and that was enough for the batsman to take two runs and officially knock MI out of the tournament.
“They are trying their best” – Jayawardene on underperforming seniors
Hardik Pandya did not play against his brother’s team in Raipur as he is recovering from back spasms. Suryakumar Yadav took the captaincy in his place mi team.
Yadav was out on the very first ball he faced in the slips off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. His captaincy was also criticized for favoring an inexperienced player like Bawa over a player like Ghazanfar.
Both Hardik and Suryakumar Yadav have faced a tough tournament with the bat. Hardik Pandya has scored just 146 runs in 8 matches at a strike rate of 136, while Suryakumar Yadav has scored just 195 runs in 11 matches, which included getting out on the first ball on Sunday.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, the MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene When asked whether it is becoming difficult to retain poorly performing players like Hardik and Suryakumar. He said, no.
Jayawardene said, “No, I don’t think so.” “They are also trying to do their best. If I had known it had something to do with it, I would have talked to them. But the commitment, the effort they are putting in is incredible. So I was quite determined. With Ro (Rohit Sharma) being injured and coming back and the way he batted, it shows. I mean, the core group is very valuable to us. You can’t just keep changing.”
“We went into them with belief, confidence. And then that’s what it is. Like I said, it’s hard for me to go beyond that. They had a really good World Cup, winning it and all that. So I think as a unit we haven’t been very good.”
Both Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya were part of it Indian team Who won the T20 World Cup in 2026.
Also read: “Tough pill to swallow”: Suryakumar Yadav shares emotional reaction after Mumbai Indians’ playoff hopes dashed
Next match between Mumbai Indians and Suryakumar Yadav
Mumbai Indians now have only one chance to spoil the game. After being eliminated, they may spoil some parties in their remaining three matches.
Their next match is against punjab kings On 14th May in Dharamshala. PBKS is in a good position to make the top four but has lost each of its last three matches. Another loss could derail their season.
It remains to be seen whether Hardik Pandya will return as captain that day or Suryakumar Yadav will have to continue with the captaincy.
