Hardik Pandya was a disappointed captain after Mumbai Indians (MI) suffered a 12-run defeat in their IPL 2025 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday (April 7).

Asked to bat first, RCB racked up a mammoth 221/5 on the board, courtesy of half-centuries from Virat Kohli (67 off 42) and Rajat Patidar (64 off 32). Wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma also played a stunning came of 40 not out in just 19 balls.

In reply, RCB overcame a scary partnership between Tilak Varma (56 off 29) and skipper Hardik Pandya (42 off 15) to restrict MI to 209/9 in 20 overs, registering their first win at Wankhede for the first time in 10 years.

"It was a run-fest. The wicket was really good. I was just talking about that to myself that again we fell short with two hits. I don't have much to say. (Was 221 par or above-par?) The way the wicket was, the bowers didn't really have much place to hide. It came down to execution. You can stop the batters, but I don't want to be harsh on the bowlers. It was a tough track; we did not have many options. (No. 3 position) The original skeleton of our team, Naman, was always batting down the order," Hardik said in the post-match presentation.

Rohit Sharma played the first three games for MI, scoring 13, 8 and 0 against CSK, GT and KKR respectively before missing the franchise's encounter against LSG at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.

After missing the game, Rohit featured in the 20th match of the IPL 2025 as an impact player. He came out to the field in the 15th over of RCB’s innings. While opening the innings, he was able to score just 17 runs in nine balls, including two fours and a six.

Speaking about Rohit, the MI skipper explained, "It's just that in the last game, Ro wasn't available, so we had to push someone up, and someone like him has the multi-dimensional game where he can come up as well and can play in the death as well. Once Ro was back, we knew that Naman would have to come down. Tilak was fantastic. Last game, a lot of things happened. People said a lot of things about it but people don't know that he had a very nasty hit the previous day. It was a tactical call, but because of the finger that he had, the coach just felt that it was a better option for someone fresh to come and do it. Today, he was fantastic. In this sort of game, powerplays are very crucial. We were not able to get in the middle, and that put us back in the chase. It comes down to execution in the death - we were not able to play those balls."

In the end, Hardik commented on ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who was playing his first game of the IPL 2025 after recovering from the lower back injury. Bumrah went wicketless in his four overs, giving away 29 runs at an economy of 7.20.

"Having him (Bumrah) makes any team in the world very special. He came in and did his job; we were very happy to have him. In life, never back down, and always see the positive side of it. Go out there, try to play the best cricket of your life and back yourself. We are all backing them, just hope for the result to come our way," Hardik concluded.

(With ANI Inputs)