Nothing has been going right for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026. On Wednesday night, they produced their best-ever first-innings score, yet it still wasn\u2019t enough, with Sunrisers Hyderabad chasing down 244 and getting to the finish with eight balls to spare. The loss has left MI locked in a battle for the bottom of the table; after eight matches, they sit on the same points as Lucknow Super Giants (4), with MI only edging ahead on net run rate.<\/p>\n
Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya made the rare call to bat first. In the 21 previous IPL matches at the Wankhede Stadium where the toss-winning side opted to bat, the result had generally favoured chasing\u2014yet Hardik felt the conditions on the night didn\u2019t offer the usual advantage. In fact, in those past Wankhede games, the teams that won the toss had overwhelmingly chosen to bowl.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think dew played much of a role, just that they [SRH] played some good shots,\u201d Hardik said in his post-match interview. \u201cWe bowled some bad balls, they got [off] to a flier. I think we did pull it back, but it was not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hardik believed MI had the right to defend their score on most days. \u201cI think 244, I think I\u2019ll back my bowlers to stop it, but yeah, some other day. Today we could not execute.\u201d<\/p>\n
SRH\u2019s chase was shaped in the opening six overs, when Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma drove the powerplay to 92 without loss. MI did get moments to change the course, but they couldn\u2019t convert them. Naman Dhir dropped two chances, Will Jacks couldn\u2019t hang on to a difficult catch, and MI also missed an edge off Head\u2019s bat that would have been worth a review.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been that kind of season,\u201d Hardik added. \u201cWhen you get a couple of chances, you grab them\u2014that\u2019s when luck and momentum changes. If you don\u2019t, it kind of hurts you, but it\u2019s still fine, all the boys tried really well. They gave everything, [it] did not [work] out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defeat further highlighted the bowling problems that have followed MI throughout the campaign. No bowler managed to slow SRH\u2019s run-making. Jasprit Bumrah, MI\u2019s key strike option, conceded 54 runs in his four overs\u2014his fourth-highest total of runs allowed in any T20 format. Impact Player Shardul Thakur, meanwhile, remained unused.<\/p>\n
MI have experimented across their bowling options all season, and have even gone as far as rotating through more players than any other team\u2014using 22 in total. Yet, Hardik admitted he was unsure what specific adjustments could quickly reverse the trend when asked about how to turn things around.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this season we don\u2019t have much option,\u201d he said. \u201cWe really need to see what we can do [differently]. I won\u2019t put my bowlers under the bus. I think as an overall unit, we have not been able to do what exactly Mumbai Indians stands for.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really need to see what we need to work on, and it\u2019s fine. We have passionate owners, we have a passionate support staff, we all will figure out something.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nothing has been going right for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026. On Wednesday night, they produced their best-ever first-innings score, yet it still wasn\u2019t enough,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"Hardik Pandya, MI vs SRH IPL 2026: Mumbai Slide","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Hardik Pandya laments MI\u2019s slide as SRH chase 244 in IPL 2026, despite MI\u2019s best first-innings total\u2014MI stuck near the bottom.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n