Former Mumbai Indians batting coach Robin Singh has rallied behind captain Hardik Pandya after MI\u2019s heavy defeat to Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2026 on Thursday. The loss came by 103 runs, and Singh argued that the captain can\u2019t be made the lone scapegoat for a team-wide collapse.<\/p>\n
Chennai set the tone with a batting display that left MI chasing an unmanageable target. Sanju Samson played a match-defining innings, finishing unbeaten on 101 off 54 deliveries. His knock featured 10 boundaries and six maximums, with a strike rate of 187.04.<\/p>\n
Samson completed his century in dramatic fashion, reaching the milestone on the final ball of the innings by clearing the ropes for a six. CSK ultimately posted 207\/6 from their 20 overs.<\/p>\n
When MI came out to bat, their innings quickly slipped away. Only Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma managed to build meaningful scores, with Yadav making 36 and Varma contributing 37.<\/p>\n
Three batters were dismissed for duck, underlining the extent of the top-order failure. Hardik Pandya also struggled to get going, scoring just one run off two balls before being dismissed by Noor Ahmad.<\/p>\n
After the match, Singh shared his views on X, pushing back against criticism aimed solely at the captain. He said it was unfair to pin the defeat on Hardik alone, particularly given he had been part of MI\u2019s setup earlier.<\/p>\n
In his post, Singh wrote that it is \u201cquite impossible to blame just the captain\u201d for the \u201cdebacle\u201d following the MI loss to CSK. He also questioned the expectation around international batters when a chase is in front of them.<\/p>\n
The defeat has left Mumbai in a difficult position in the league table. MI are eighth in the 10-team points standings, having recorded two wins and suffered five losses, and they will need to respond quickly.<\/p>\n
With the campaign continuing, MI\u2019s challenge will be to rebuild quickly\u2014both in batting consistency and in bowling impact\u2014after a defeat that exposed gaps across the innings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Mumbai Indians batting coach Robin Singh has rallied behind captain Hardik Pandya after MI\u2019s heavy defeat to Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2026 on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5064,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Robin Singh Supports Hardik Pandya After MI\u2019s IPL 2026 Loss","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Robin Singh backs Hardik Pandya after MI\u2019s 103-run IPL 2026 loss to CSK, saying the captain shouldn\u2019t be blamed for a team-wide collapse.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n