Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene gave a key update on captain Hardik Pandya\u2019s fitness after MI\u2019s 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\u2014making them the second franchise, following Lucknow Super Giants, to be knocked out of the tournament.<\/p>\n
After the game, Jayawardene said Hardik has been managing a back problem and has been receiving treatment with the team\u2019s 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\u2019s workload and therefore decided to rest him for the contest against RCB.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. Hardik had a back issue which we were trying to rectify, but it hasn\u2019t settled in yet. So the medical guys were working on him. He couldn\u2019t train the last few days, so we didn\u2019t want to take a risk without knowing exactly. So we\u2019ll see. It\u2019s on a day-to-day basis. See how he feels. And then we\u2019ll make a decision on that,\u201d Jayawardene said.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s decisions, including discussion around the \u201cpolitics\u201d of benching certain senior players who had struggled to deliver consistently.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe season is disappointing. We\u2019ve 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\u2019t get those wins, and today was another classic example where we fell short,\u201d the former Sri Lanka great said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mumbai Indians head coach Mahela Jayawardene gave a key update on captain Hardik Pandya\u2019s fitness after MI\u2019s IPL 2026 meeting with Royal Challengers Bengaluru on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_title":"IPL 2026: Jayawardene Update on Hardik Pandya Fitness","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"IPL 2026 fitness update: Mahela Jayawardene reveals why Hardik Pandya is still sidelined, as Mumbai\u2019s loss to RCB ends their playoff hopes.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl"],"yoast_head":"\n