Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene opened up about the challenges the team has faced due to the underperformance of certain senior players.
In particular, Jayawardene talked about the poor form of stalwarts Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav. MI’s full-time and deputy skipper, respectively, have not been at their best this year. That, combined with a spate of other challenges, means the Mumbai Indians have now been officially eliminated from playoffs contention in IPL 2026.
Key Points
- Mumbai Indians coach Mahela Jayawardene defended Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav despite their poor IPL 2026 season.
- MI were officially knocked out of the IPL 2026 playoffs race after a last-ball defeat to RCB.
- Jayawardene said senior players are still giving full effort and commitment despite poor results.
- Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav have both struggled badly with the bat this season
Mumbai Indians eliminated after a last-ball loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru
At the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, MI, and RCB played out a thriller for the ages. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was at his attacking best in the powerplay, taking three wickets – including the stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav for a first-ball duck – and reclaiming the Purple Cap.
Tilak Varma and Naman Dhir tried to steady the ship, but it couldn’t do much. Dhir was dismissed in the 13th over, and Bhuvneshwar came back to dismiss Tilak Varma in the 18th. MI could only muster 17 runs in the last three overs to leave RCB needing 167 to go to the top of the table.
RCB’s chase did not go to plan at all. Virat Kohli was dismissed for a golden duck while both Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar were dismissed within the powerplay. Deepak Chahar dismissed Kohli and Padikkal, while Corbin Bosch dismissed Patidar.
Krunal Pandya and Jacob Bethell put RCB on the victory path with a stand of 55. But, Bosch wasn’t done. Bosch dismissed Bethell in the 13th over and then cut Jitesh Sharma’s cameo short in the 16th. Bosch dismissed Jitesh and Tim David off successive deliveries to leave RCB in peril.
With 30 runs required off the last three overs, Krunal decided to take charge. He went after AM Ghazanfar in an eventful over that contained two sixes, one dropped catch, and finally a cramping Krunal being dismissed for 73.
Jasprit Bumrah showed why he’s among the best by giving away just three runs in the 19th over when RCB needed 18 runs to win in 12 balls. The inexperienced Raj Bawa was asked to defend 15 runs off the last over.
The first two legal deliveries of the over combined to give five runs due to three wides and a no-ball. With 10 runs required off 4 balls, Bawa had Romario Shepherd holing out. Another wide followed. With 9 required from 3, Bhuvneshwar Kumar decided to go for it and managed a six over cover off the first legal delivery he faced. He took a single off the next ball to bring Rasikh Salam Dar on strike to score two runs off the last ball.
Dar pushed a fuller delivery back to the bowler, who misfielded it, and that was enough for the batter to run two and officially eliminate MI from 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 continues to recover from a back spasm. In his stead, Suryakumar Yadav led the MI team.
Yadav was dismissed on the first ball he faced, edging a delivery from Bhuvneshwar Kumar to the slips. His captaincy was also criticised for backing an inexperienced player like Bawa over someone like Ghazanfar.
Both Hardik and Suryakumar Yadav have endured a tough tournament with the bat. Hardik Pandya has made just 146 runs in 8 matches at a strike rate of 136, while Suryakumar Yadav has just 195 runs in 11 matches, including the first-ball duck on Sunday.
While speaking in the post-match press conference, MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene was asked whether it was getting difficult to keep underperforming players like Hardik and Suryakumar around. He said no.
“No, I don’t think it is,” Jayawardene said. “They’re also trying to do their best. If I knew that it was something to do with that, I would have spoken to them. But the commitment, the effort that they’re putting in, is unbelievable. So I was quite determined. With Ro (Rohit Sharma) getting injured and coming back and batting the way he batted, it sums up. I mean, the core group is quite valuable for us. You can’t just keep changing.”
“We went with the trust, the confidence that we had with them. And then it is what it is. Like I said, it’s difficult for me to go beyond that. They had a really good World Cup, winning it and all that. So I think it’s just that as a unit, we haven’t been good enough.”
Both Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya were a part of the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup in 2026.
Mumbai Indians and Suryakumar Yadav’s next match
Mumbai Indians now only have an opportunity to play spoilsport. Having been eliminated, they can ruin a few parties in their remaining three matches.
Their very next match is against the Punjab Kings in Dharamsala on May 14. PBKS are in a good position to make the top four, but have lost each of their last three matches. Another loss might derail their season.
It remains to be seen whether Hardik Pandya will return as captain on that day or if Suryakumar Yadav has to continue leading.
