MI lost to PBKS by seven wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
Mumbai Indians (MI) are languishing at ninth spot in the IPL 2026 points table with one win in five matches, following a seven-wicket thrashing against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday (April 16).
Despite setting a strong 196-run target, MI failed to defend as PBKS chased it down in 16.3 overs, leaving captain Hardik Pandya shell-shocked.
Speaking during the post-match presentation, Pandya addressed MI’s fourth consecutive defeat in the tournament, highlighting the need for accountability and potential tactical changes.
He mentioned the team must "go back on the drawing board" to determine if the issues lie with individuals, the group, or planning.
"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 are we lacking. Is it individuals? Is it as a group? Is it as planning? We'll just figure it out and see what we can do next," Pandya said.
He credited PBKS for outplaying MI in all facets of the game, and hinted at taking "difficult calls" to change their trajectory.
“I think you need to give credit to them as well. The ball started reversing, and at that same point of time, the wicket was.. the dew didn't come. In the second inning, the dew came and it slightly got better, but having said that, they just outbeated us. They bowled better, they batted better, they fielded better, definitely, and that costed us the game,” Hardik remarked.
“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,” he concluded.
Coming to the match, the hosts posted 195/6 on the board after being asked to bat first. Opening the innings, Quinton de Kock carried his bat to finish 112* off 60 balls, smashing 8 fours and 7 sixes. His century came off just 53 deliveries. Naman Dhir also made a notable contribution, scoring 50 off 31 balls.
Arshdeep Singh was the pick of the bowlers for PBKS, returning with the figures of 3 for 22 in his four overs.
In reply, Punjab rode on half-centuries from Prabhsimran Singh (80* off 39) and Shreyas Iyer (66 off 35) to overhaul the target with ease and move to the top of the points table.