R Ashwin calls out Hardik Pandya after MI loses to CSK in IPL 2026 match

Last night, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated Mumbai Indians (MI) by 103 runs; as a result, MI has come under scrutiny for its consistently underwhelming performances.

The hot topic of discussion in the current season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been the consistent underwhelming performances by the Mumbai Indians (MI). Captain Hardik Pandya has also attracted massive criticism from ex-cricketers and fans alike. Recently, RavichandranAshwin also slammed the cricketer for MI’s loss.

R Ashwin calls out Hardik Pandya for MI’s loss.

Since MI has won only two of their first seven matches in IPL 2026, Hardik Pandya has come under scrutiny for the franchise’s underwhelming performances. The all-rounder not only lacks runs with the bat and wickets with the ball but also has seen his captaincy credentials brought into question. R Ashwin, a former Indian spinner, found it difficult to digest Pandya’s decision to invite CSK to bat first in Thursday’s fixture. He pointed out that Pandya failed to learn from mistakes made against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), despite both matches being held on the same pitch.

What did R Ashwin say about Hardik Pandya?

On his YouTube channel, Ashwin noted, “I am slightly underwhelmed. Hardik Pandya won the toss and handed the advantage to a team that has only won matches in this tournament by batting first. Do you remember the first game the Mumbai Indians played? They lost in a similar fashion against RCB. In that game, RCB batted first and did what Chennai couldn’t quite manage today because of the difference in batting depth.” He added, “RCB has significant power hitting through to the end of the order, which allowed them to post a huge score. Chennai doesn’t have quite that much power, and Mumbai actually bowled slightly better today; Allah Ghazanfar and Ashwani Kumar performed well, and, of course, we can’t forget Bumrah. That is why they conceded 208, but Mumbai still couldn’t chase it down.” He further said, “The pitch for that game and this game was exactly the same. Even then, the Mumbai Indians failed to find any momentum; in the second innings, the surface became even stickier and slower. If you learn from the conditions, you realise that by winning the toss and bowling, you gave the advantage back to the CSK line-up. As I said, if you win the toss against SRH or CSK and there is no dew, you must make them bat second.”

R Ashwin was also critical of the decision to hand the 20th over to rookie KrishBhagat, despite Pandya having two overs of his own remaining. Bhagat subsequently conceded 16 runs in the final over. On asking if captaincy pressure was affecting Pandya’s individual performance, Ashwin suggested that the context of his appointment cannot be ignored, referencing the backlash following the replacement of Rohit Sharma.