On April 12 in the 22 nd match of the IPL 2026, the Mumbai Indians lost to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 18 runs at the Wankhede Stadium.
The defending champions batted on a huge 240/4 after being put into bat thanks to 36-ball 78 by Phil Salt and 20-ball 53 by captain Rajat Patidar. The highlight of the innings was when Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya handed the ball to Mayank Markande in the 11 th over.
One of the most feared spin-hitters in the league is Patidar, who has just entered the field after Salt had been sent home in the last over. Entering to bowl in the 11th over, Markande was struck with three successive sixes, which assisted RCB in continuing the momentum, following the dismissal of the English opener.
Ashwin condemned this move calling it an average decision that he gave to the famous ability of Patidar to counter the spinners. It is important to note that the RCB captain has hit more than 200 off the spinners in IPL 2026.
“Rajat Patidar is a monster hitter against spinners. When he came to bat, you gave the ball to Markande straight away? Not the smartest of moves. Very, very average. It is very important to understand what Markande thinks. Patidar hit him and washed him in Hyderabad, and here, he hit him from the very first ball again.”
Watch the video here:
Ashwin anna cooked the captaincy of Hardik Pandya in a very unique way without even taking his name 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/Z9ZA3gtR6O
— Kusha Sharma (@Kushacritic) April 12, 2026‘Repeat of 2024’ – Ashwin on Markande-Patidar battle
Ashwin brought up a 2024 match in which Patidar hit Markande, who was playing for SRH, for four sixes in an over during a match against RCB.
“This SRH vs RCB 2024 game was where Rajat Patidar announced that he is a spin hitter. He was hitting Markande into every corner. There are some common things between these two big overs. The first ball was taken by Virat Kohli, he took a single, and everything else was the same. There he hit four sixes, here he hit three,” Ashwin highlighted.
Ravichandran Ashwin continued to add that the spinners of Mumbai were dismissed at 83 runs in the six overs that they bowled. New Zealand player Mitchell Santner made 43 runs in his four overs and Markande bowled two overs and made 40 runs. Having been hit by 22 in his first over of the powerplay, Santner made a recovery to only offer 21 in his next three overs, with the precious wicket of Patidar.
“Here, the difference is between 210 and 240. Mayank Markande: two overs, 40 runs. Today, the spinners went for 83 runs total. I think Santner went for 43 as well,” Ashwin added.
The Mumbai Indians are now sitting in ninth position in the standings after dropping their last three games.
