Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) Skipper Hardik Pandya admitted that early wickets in the Power-play hurt the Mumbai Indians (MI) badly as they stumbled to a heavy defeat against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Match 33 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.

“I think that in the power play, losing that early wicket is always going to be tricky. You are always chasing the game, and we could not cope after that,” Pandya said after the match.

Chasing a daunting 208, the Mumbai Indians never found momentum and were bowled out for just 104 in 19 overs. Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein starred with the ball, picking up four wickets, while Noor Ahmad chipped in with crucial breakthroughs. Earlier, Sanju Samson had powered CSK to 207/6 with a brilliant unbeaten 101, supported by handy contributions from the middle order.

Pandya, however, refused to blame the pitch conditions for the defeat. “I would not say that. I’m not someone who would like to say that. They batted well; they scored 207. It was the same track, it was the same soil. We should have just batted well,” he added.

He acknowledged the role of spinners but credited CSK’s batting effort. “Yes, I think even our spinners bowled pretty well. It’s just that Sanju played an outstanding knock. At the same point in time, their batters kept coming and kind of chipping in and got them to a decent total, I think more than a decent total on that track.”

“For us to chase this down, we needed to have a good power play, and the momentum had to be with us, but that could not happen,” he added.

On back-to-back struggles at home, the MI skipper remained focused on improvement. “I think that will be the chat where we will go back to again, go forward, and figure out what we need to do. We have a couple of days. We just need to see what we can do best,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, after the defeat, MI have moved down to the eighth position with just four points in seven matches. They will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on April 29.

–IANS

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