‘Usko maar maar ke dhoya’: R Ashwin shows no sympathy for Hardik Pandya for his captaincy blunder against RCB

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"This SRH vs RCB 2024 game was where Rajat Patidar announced that he is a spin hitter. He was hitting Markande into every corner," he said.

"There are some common things between these two big overs. The first ball was taken by Virat Kohli, he took a single, and everything else was the same. There he hit four sixes, here he hit three."

Explaining that hitting spin is one of the RCB skipper's many strengths, he continued, "Rajat Patidar is a monster hitter against spinners. When he came to bat, you gave the ball to Markande straight away? Not the smartest of moves. Very, very average."

“It is very important to understand what Markande thinks. Patidar hit him and washed him in Hyderabad (It is important to understand Markande ke dimaag mei kya chal raha hai. Usko maar maar ke dhoya tha usne Hyderabad mei), and here, he hit him from the very first ball again.”

Ashwin felt that the pitch wasn't spinner-friendly, as even MI's Mitchell Santner conceded 43 runs. "Here, the difference is between 210 and 240. Mayank Markande: two overs, 40 runs. Today, the spinners went for 83 runs total. I think Santner went for 43 as well," he said.

In his analysis, Ashwin opined that MI's bowling approach gave Patidar the time to settle quickly at the crease. Once he began to hit sixes and fours, he increased the momentum immediately, hitting a hat-trick of maximums early on in his innings, and he got to a 17-ball fifty.

Ashwin's criticism of Pandya's captaincy at MI is not new. Ahead of IPL 2026, he had called for Suryakumar Yadav to lead MI as skipper.

Chasing a target of 241 runs, MI were restricted to 222/5 in 20 overs, despite an unbeaten 31-ball 71* by Sherfane Rutherford. Meanwhile, Suyash Sharma took two wickets. Initially, half-centuries from Phil Salt (78), Patidar (53) and Virat Kohli (50) guided RCB to 240/4.

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