Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene gave a key update on captain Hardik Pandya’s fitness after MI’s IPL 2026 meeting with Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Sunday in Raipur. Hardik missed the match for the second straight game, and Suryakumar Yadav took charge of the team in his absence. Mumbai ultimately fell short in the chase, losing by two wickets, and the result also sealed their elimination from the playoff race—making them the second franchise, following Lucknow Super Giants, to be knocked out of the tournament.
After the game, Jayawardene said Hardik has been managing a back problem and has been receiving treatment with the team’s medical staff overseeing his progress. Because of the issue, Hardik was not able to join the practice sessions leading up to the match. The head coach added that the management chose caution with the all-rounder’s workload and therefore decided to rest him for the contest against RCB.
“Yeah. Hardik had a back issue which we were trying to rectify, but it hasn’t settled in yet. So the medical guys were working on him. He couldn’t train the last few days, so we didn’t want to take a risk without knowing exactly. So we’ll see. It’s on a day-to-day basis. See how he feels. And then we’ll make a decision on that,” Jayawardene said.
MI posted a competitive 166/7 on a difficult surface, doing well to set up a tough target. However, RCB managed to pull off the chase and reached the winning mark on the final delivery of the match. With their tournament exit confirmed, Jayawardene faced pointed questions about the season’s decisions, including discussion around the “politics” of benching certain senior players who had struggled to deliver consistently.
“The season is disappointing. We’ve had our opportunities, but we were not good enough. We were not consistent enough with the ball or the bat, and that showed in the margins. We were probably two or three wins away from being in the same group of contenders to get into the playoffs, but we didn’t get those wins, and today was another classic example where we fell short,” the former Sri Lanka great said.
