'Not the season': Pandya accepts harsh reality after MI’s playoff hopes suffer body blow with CSK drubbing at Chepauk

Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya admitted that it has been a season to forget for his team after they were outplayed by fierce rivals Chennai Super Kings for the second time in as many meetings in the 2026 Indian Premier League. MI had arrived at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium needing to win each of their remaining games in order to have a practical chance of making it to the playoffs for the second season in a row.

MI, however, posted a sub-par score of 159/7 on the board after captain Pandya opted to bat at Chepauk, despite recovering from a jittery start to reach 57/1 at the end of the powerplay and 90/2 at the halfway stage. Pandya and Co struggled to accelerate once the third-wicket stand between Naman Dhir (57) and Suryakumar Yadav (21) was broken, and managed just 69 runs in the second half of their innings.

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'We could not get the momentum post 10 overs'

CSK, in reply, cruised towards the target despite losing the wicket of Sanju Samson (11) early. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (67 not out) and Kartik Sharma (54 not out) struck unbeaten fifties and shared an unbroken 98-run partnership for the third-wicket as the 'Yellow Army' completed a season double against the fellow five-time champions with nearly two overs to spare.

"Not the season, I feel, not just the night. They played better, they bowled better, they fielded better, and they batted better," a dejected Pandya said after MI suffered their seventh defeat in nine outings this season.

"I think at one point of time, we were looking to get around 180, 190. Should have been a good total, but yeah, we could not get the momentum post 10 overs, could not get the finish as well. It was not easy to go straightaway and kind of play shots, which even their batters, after getting set, they could not really take on the bowlers.

"It was more about playing calculative cricket and, making sure that we have the right wickets in hand. At the same point of time, batters could not get under the ball, they bowled better. Just overall as a bowling unit, they were better and as a batting unit, we were not," he continued.

MI needed 'fireballs' to get CSK batters out, says Pandya

The all-rounder, who had captained Gujarat Titans to victory in 2022 and a runner-up finish the following season but is yet to lead MI into a final, further quipped that his bowlers would have had to chuck "fireballs" at the CSK batters to get them out.

"I don't know what aggressive we would have been. I think we would have had to throw some fireballs to get them out. But yeah, it was, the bowling option which we had, we went with it and they just played smart cricket. And yeah, they were better," he added.

Though not mathematically out of the playoffs race yet, securing a top-four finish will be tricky for the five-time champions considering they will finish with a maximum of 14 points if they win all of their remaining games, which will leave them dependent on other results for qualification to the knockouts.