Hardik Pandya Gives MI Teammates "2 Options" In Tense Dressing Room Address. Video
Hardik Pandya gave a serious talk in the Mumbai Indians dressing room as the franchise suffered its third consecutive loss of the IPL 2026 season.
Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya looked disappointed and extremely serious about the franchise's Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 campaign, after losing three matches on the trot. MI came up against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their last match but ended up facing a humiliating defeat at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Skipper Hardik Pandya, addressing the entire MI squad in the dressing room, said that there are only two options for the team from here on, either to go back in cocoons and reflect on the game, or come together and face it.
The likes of Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, and Rajat Patidar led the way for Bengaluru, as the team put a mammoth of a total of 240 runs on the board. MI never looked in control of the chase and ended up losing by 18 runs. Sherfane Rutherford was the only player who stood up to the daunting chase and hammered RCB bowlers all across the park but his effort wasn't good enough for the team to get the two points.
Hardik, echoing the statement coach Mahela Jayawardene made minutes before in the dressing room, asked the players to choose between going back to their cocoons and reflect on what happened in isolation or come together and embrace the setbacks together.
"Thinking from what MJ said, I think here there are two options we can do. One is go back in our rooms, go back into our cocoon spaces and try to figure it out. I know it's tough losing but let's learn... let's not get disappeared. But let's learn. It's always winning and learning, never losing. So let's do that. That's something which tonight after the game, once we go back to hotel, let's have a meal together, we'll talk about cricket. We'll talk about something else but we'll figure it out," Hardik said in the dressing room.
"" - Captain HP's message to the team! pic.twitter.com/UAJ36N0ceq
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 13, 2026
After the game, Hardik had expressed his disappointment at the bowling unit, admitting that big changes might be needed to arrest the slide.
"I think we conceded way too many runs. I think that (241-run target) was always going to be catch-up. I think in the last couple of games, as a bowling unit or even as a batting unit, we've been quite catching up in the game rather than leading the game. We really need to reflect, really need to see what best we can do and how we can get that momentum and that click which we require.
"We have a couple of days off from here and we will play again. (bat second the way to go here?) To be very honest, now a lot of things needs to be rethink. Definitely, it's not working. Couple of games we have won the toss, but maybe we need to see what other options we have as a batting group or bowling group. Looking at the kind of wicket it's playing, if we can bat as well, that would be good. We still need to play cricket, we still need to bat well, we still need to bowl well," Hardik said.
Mumbai Indians
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Hardik Pandya