Back in action after missing a host of games in the ongoing IPL 2026 due to a back spasm, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya said he enjoyed bowling on a challenging Eden Gardens surface on Wednesday
night, where scoring runs was far from easy.
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In a low-scoring thriller, Kolkata Knight Riders secured a four-wicket win over MI to keep their playoff hopes alive.
A total of 14 wickets fell and 295 runs were scored in a rain-interrupted contest. Reflecting on the direction in which the modern T20 cricket seems to be heading towards, Pandya admitted that conditions in the IPL often leave bowlers with little room for error as batters have become increasingly dominant.
“I don’t mind playing on this sort of wickets where bowlers have something to do,” Pandya said after the match. “I think IPL is becoming quite batting dominant, bowlers are feeling helpless. I think, today’s game gave bowlers a lot of something from wicket which makes them come and bowl some good balls, make batsmen play some good cricket and score runs. So, yeah, I kind of enjoyed it.”
Pandya returned figures of 0/13 from his two overs.
Defending 147, MI stayed in the contest with KKR at 73/3 after nine overs. However, the five-time champions let the game slip through poor fielding, dropping two catches in successive overs. KKR capitalised as Manish Pandey and Rovman Powell added a decisive 64-run partnership to seal the chase.
Pandya admitted that MI have struggled in the field throughout the season.
“I don’t know. I think, we, throughout the season, we’ve been, quite poor in fielding,” Hardik said. “We have dropped a lot of catches, which obviously no one wants to do it, but, in that part of the game, I think, there is no hiding away,” he said.
“If you get chances, if you want to win games, you need to grab all the chances, even half-chances as well. But yeah, when you drop chances which can change the game, it’s always you’re chasing the game,” he added.
Despite the difficult pitch, Pandya felt MI fell around 20 runs short. He also took responsibility alongside Tilak Varma for not batting deeper into the innings. Pandya scored 26 off 27 balls, while Tilak made 20 off 32.
“We were 20 short. I think we lost a lot of wickets in powerplay, but if Tilak or I would have stayed longer and if we would have stitched a couple of more partnerships and those 15-20 runs, I think we would have had a decent chance,” he said.”
