Mumbai Indians couldn’t go past Rajasthan Royals in their reverse fixture at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

After losing Kieron Pollard early, it seemed that MI may have to settle for a lesser total. However, Hardik Pandya’s stupendous power-hitting took MI to 195/5.

The 27-year old scored an unbeaten 60 runs from just 21 balls with seven sixes. However, his team still couldn’t end up on the winning side as Ben Stokes’ ton and Sanju Samson’s half-century helped RR cross the line with ten balls to spare.

Pandya addressed the media at the post-match press conference. The hard-hitting batsman shared his thoughts on his knock, the partnership between Stokes-Samson and his team plans moving forward.

A rare defeat for this team this year. Did the strategy go wrong or the execution?

Hardik: “No, sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition. I feel that they batted well. Bowlers didn’t have much to do. It was their skills and execution which worked for them.”

A word on your innings. You gave the required boost towards the end. How you enjoyed the innings and did you also feel that the score was above par?

Hardik: “Obviously, hitting sixes is fun which I enjoyed. I thought we got enough runs. Initially, when the second strategic time-out happened, we were looking at 165-170 and obviously, we got 25 runs more which I thought was enough. But credit goes to Stokes and Sanju, they batted well.”

What was the plan against Ben Stokes and where do you think it went wrong?

Hardik: “To be honest, I don’t know what was the plan exactly. I was not attending the bowlers’ meeting. I think it happens, sometimes you need to give credit to the other opposition and they were better today in batting.”

Your perspective watching Stokes and Samson, the way they batted. What do you think they did right to counter your team on the field?

Hardik: “I think they took their chances and even luck was there on their side. Multiple inside edges and outside edges went for a boundary. But having said that, they still played some outstanding shots against which I don’t think our bowlers had much options to do.”

Your team is playing against the top sides of this season in the next couple of games. What are the takeaways from this match which will be useful going forward and to seal that berth in the playoffs for the top two?

Hardik: “I feel from this game, we should just rectify our mistakes, the things which we didn’t do, and focus on positives. Having said that, we are still sitting at number one. We just need to play a couple of good games and focus on getting the top two positions.”