Watch: “Very average…”- Ravichandran Ashwin exposes Hardik Pandya’s captaincy during MI vs RCB clash in IPL 2026

Mumbai Indians started the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 with a memorable victory at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai as they demolished the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the massive chase. But since then, the five-time champions have lost three successive games and found themselves in eighth position in the points table. 

The Hardik Pandya-led side faced an 18-run defeat against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the same venue and has found itself in massive trouble. Their next clash will be against the Punjab Kings at the same venue, and that could turn out to be a do-or-die situation. 

Ravichandran Ashwin blames Hardik Pandya’s leadership in IPL 2026

The former Indian all-rounder, Ravichandran Ashwin, has lamented the captaincy of Hardik, who introduced Mayank Markande into the attack during the first innings when Rajat Patidar walked into the middle, as he pointed out the latter’s dominance against the spinners.

Watch the video here: 

During the 12th over, Hardik saw his off-spinner being smashed for 20 runs in his first over. Getting the strike from Virat Kohli, Patidar nailed the spinner for three successive sixes, including a rare switch hit over the point region as RCB raced away to 144/1 in 12 overs.

Ashwin recalled the IPL 2024 clash between RCB and the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) when Patidar clubbed Markande for four consecutive sixes as he argued that bringing the leg spinner back into the attack didn’t make any sense given the batter’s dominance against spin.

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“Rajat Patidar is a monster hitter against spinners, and when he came into bat, you gave the ball straight to Mayank Markande. We have to understand what is going on in Markande’s mind. He (Patidar) had beaten him to a pulp in Hyderabad, and when Patidar came in, he was given the ball straightaway. Very, very, very, very average. My head started spinning. This was the difference between 210 and 240.” Ashwin claimed in his YouTube video.

RCB continues to show dominance with bat

Bengaluru’s only loss of the season so far came against the Rajasthan Royals, as they came back on track with the victory against the Mumbai Indians (MI). They are in third position of the points table with three wins at a net run rate of +1.148. Their next clash will be against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

They will be a little concerned about Kohli’s fitness, who sat out of the second innings due to an ankle injury. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma also retired out with a hamstring injury in the chase and went back to the dressing room, which made a massive difference to the result of the game.