Ravichandran Ashwin, delivered a detailed tactical breakdown of Mumbai Indians’ 18-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Wankhede Stadium in IPL 2026, while also questioning Hardik Pandya’s captaincy decisions during key phases of the chase. A major talking point in Ashwin’s analysis was MI’s decision to introduce spinner Mayank Markande early against Rajat Patidar, a move he felt directly played into the RCB skipper’s strengths. Patidar, who went on to score a crucial 53 off just 20 balls, was particularly dominant against spin, shifting momentum during a decisive middle-over burst. Ashwin also revisited Patidar’s past success against Markande in an earlier SRH vs RCB clash in 2024 to underline his point about the matchup.He said, “This is not today’s scorecard, this is the SRH vs RCB 2024 match where Rajat announced that he is a spin hitter. He hit Mayank Markande all over the ground.” said on his YouTube channel, while referring to a previous IPL 2024 clash to highlight Rajat Patidar’s dominance against spin.He further added, “What is common here is that in that game also Rajat smashed Markande for sixes, and in this game too he did the same. The point is Rajat Patidar against spin is a monster hitter. When he came in, you directly brought Markande on, and that is very average captaincy. Markande went for 40 runs in 2 overs.” said on his YouTube channel. In his breakdown, Ashwin suggested that MI’s tactical approach allowed Patidar to settle immediately at the crease. Once he got going, Patidar shifted gears rapidly, hitting a hat-trick of sixes early in his innings and later racing to a 17-ball fifty, ensuring RCB maintained scoring momentum even after losing Phil Salt and Virat Kohli. The match itself was a high-scoring thriller. RCB posted a commanding 240/4, built on a 120-run opening stand between Phil Salt (78 off 36) and Virat Kohli (50 off 38), followed by Patidar’s explosive 53 off 20 balls and a late flourish from Tim David. MI responded strongly through Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton before Rohit retired hurt, while Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya kept them in the hunt. However, despite Sherfane Rutherford’s unbeaten 71 off 31 balls in the death overs, MI fell short at 222/5, losing by 18 runs. Ashwin concluded that the key phase of Patidar’s assault on Markande was a turning point, saying MI’s mismatch in that matchup allowed RCB to seize control of the contest in the middle overs.
