Mumbai Indians In the 22nd match of the 2026 Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bangalore were defeated by 18 runs at the Wankhede Stadium on 12 April.
Thanks to Phil Salt's 78 runs in 36 balls and captain Rajat Patidar's 53 runs in 20 balls, the defending champions scored a huge score of 240/4 when invited to bat first. One of the important moments of the innings was Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya giving the ball to Mayank Markande in the 11th over.
Patidar, who came on only after Salt was dismissed in the previous over, is one of the most dangerous spin-hitters in the league. Markande, who came to bowl in the 11th over, was hit for three consecutive sixes, which helped RCB gain momentum after the dismissal of the English opener.
Ashwin criticized the decision, calling it an average decision considering Patidar's known prowess against spinners. Notably, the RCB captain has scored more than 200 runs against spinners in IPL 2026.
“Rajat Patidar is a tremendous hitter against spinners. When he came to bat, you gave the ball straight to Markande? That's not the smartest move. Very, very average. It's very important to understand what Markande thinks. Patidar hit him and washed him in Hyderabad, and here, he hit him again with the very first ball.”
Watch the video here:
'Repeat of 2024' – Ashwin on Markande-Patidar fight
Ashwin mentioned a match in 2024, where Markandey, playing for SRH, had hit four sixes in an over. PatidarIn the match against RCB.
“In the SRH vs RCB 2024 match, Rajat Patidar announced that he is a spin hitter. He was hitting Markande to every corner. There are some common things between these two big overs. The first ball was taken by Virat Kohli, he took a run and everything else was the same. There he hit four sixes, here he hit three sixes,” Ashwin highlighted.
Ashwin further said that Mumbai spinners gave away 83 runs in six overs. Markandey gave 40 runs in his two overs, while New Zealand's Mitchell Santner gave 43 runs in his four overs. Santner scored 22 runs in his first over in the powerplay, but he recovered well and conceded only 21 runs in his next three overs, which included the prized wicket of Patidar.
“Here, the difference is between 210 and 240. Mayank Markandey: Two overs, 40 runs. Today, the spinners scored a total of 83 runs. I think Santner also got out for 43 runs,” Ashwin said.
Mumbai Indians have now lost three consecutive games and find themselves eighth in the table.
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