3 min readMay 11, 2026 12:45 AM IST
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) may have won a thrilling contest over the Mumbai Indians by two wickets, but captain Rajat Patidar was critical of his team’s run chase of 167, admitting they did not deserve to be on the winning side.
RCB eventually scraped home by two wickets in the last over thanks largely to Krunal Pandya’s outstanding 73 off 46 balls, but Patidar felt the target should have been chased more comfortably.
“Our bowlers did a tremendous job to restrict them. That was easily chaseable, but to be honest, we didn’t deserve to win this match. We should have chased that target easily. We have a batting line-up capable enough,” Patidar said after the match.
The RCB captain reserved special praise for Pandya, whose rescue act came after early dismissals of Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, and Patidar himself left the side in trouble inside the powerplay. He revealed that they had decided in the team meetings that the all-rounder would bat at number five.
“It was a very tight match, a great game. KP is the man, who has done it for the team,” Patidar said.
“It was our decision, we had discussed in team meetings. We wanted to give him opportunity at number 5 and he done it pretty well. There’s a lot of experience, and such players do it for the team under pressure, and in such situations,” he added.
Patidar also praised veteran seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, whose spell in the powerplay reduced MI to 28/3 and eventually set up the win.
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“I think it’s unbelievable, I would say. I think the way he (Bhuvneshwar) controlled over the ball, his control over the ball, I think is super. And it’s been difficult on a wicket that was two paced and variable bounce. I think it’s very difficult to play him,” Patidar said.
The win pushed RCB to the top of the IPL 2026 points table, though the skipper insisted the team was not focusing too much on standings at this stage of the tournament.
“Right now, we are not bothered about the table; we want to play good cricket, rather than looking at the table.”
RCB next take on the Kolkata Knight Riders in Raipur on Wednesday.
