Hardik hints at 'difficult calls' after MI's fourth loss in a row

Hardik Pandya used strong words after Mumbai Indians' fourth consecutive defeat in IPL 2026. 'Back to the drawing board', 'individuals', 'difficult calls' and 'ownership' were among the expressions a disconsolate Pandya employed following their seven-wicket loss to Punjab Kings at home on Thursday night. His choice of words has sparked speculation about what the MI skipper might be hinting at and at whom, particularly with regard to "individuals" and "ownership".

"We really need to see, do we need to make some difficult calls or do we need to keep continuing and hope that we'll turn things around. These are some hard questions which eventually we need to answer and yeah, ownership has to be taken," Pandya said during his post-match conversation. For the third match in a row, Mumbai Indians, the five-time champions, have lost to Punjab Kings, their recent nemesis.

Suryakumar Yadav has a half century but his scores in other four games have been 16. 6. 33 and 0, the latest being the golden duck and Tilak Varma has 43 runs from five games - 20, 0, 14, 1 and 8. Jasprit Bumrah, of course, has been wicketless this season. What exactly he was pointing to could unfold in MI's next game, against Gujarat Titans, in Ahmedabad on April 20 but the MI skipper looked determined to make some drastic changes.

"To be very honest, I don't have much to say right now. I think we really need to go back on the drawing board and see where we are lacking. Is it individuals? Is it as a group? Is it planning? We'll just figure it out and see what we can do next," he said and went on to add, "they just outbeated us. They bowled better, they batted better, they fielded better, definitely, and that cost us the game."

Mahela Jayawardene was more measured in his assessment of the situation. "We're finding some spark in certain areas, but on the other side, we're lacking it-especially with the ball. We haven't been able to penetrate the opposition, so that's something we really need to work harder on and see how we can improve," the MI head coach analysed after the game.

Jayawardene also refused to blame Pandya stating that it is a collective responsibility. "As a unit we've lacked that penetration across different surfaces, and that's something we need to work on and figure out how to improve. I don't think it's just on Hardik - I think it's on all of us when we're not doing well.

"It's not on an individual - it's on me, everyone involved in the management and the team, to assess what we need to do and how we can be better. I think we're playing good cricket; it's not as if we're being completely outplayed, but at the same time other teams have been more clinical.

"Naturally, their (PBKS') confidence is higher when they've had that kind of start. We need to control the phases we can and execute better. So, it's not just the onus on one individual. As a franchise - as a team and management - we need to do things better, find some rhythm and string a few wins together, which will give us confidence. Now, away matches become even more important for us, and we need to see how best we can manage those."

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