It was a case of so near yet so far for the beleaguered Royal Challengers Bangalore as they succumbed to their seventh defeat in eight games in the on-going edition of the IPL. India all-rounder Hardik Pandya’s heroics against Pawan Negi in the 19th over left Kieron Pollard watching on from the other end as Mumbai won by five wickets at the Wankhede, but despite that leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal is still quietly optimistic that RCB will still make it to the final four of the competition.

Virat Kohli’s side have another six games to play before the league stage ends and will need to win every game from now on in if they want to make the playoffs.

“If we win the next six games we can qualify (for playoffs). Last year a team had qualified with 14 points, so it is not the end of the road yet. You never know what will happen next,” a visibly disappointed Chahal said in the post-match press conference.

The visitors, RCB, went into the 19th over of the Mumbai Indians innings with 22 to defend and bowling coach Ashish Nehra was seen asserting that Kohli should go with a spinning option in left-armer Negi instead of a fast bowler against the likes of Hardik and Kieron Pollard. Unfortunately for Kohli and Nehra that backfired as Hardik destroyed Negi by smashing him for two sixes and two fours to wrap up the contest with six balls still to spare.

“If you see the wicket was turning and it wasn’t easy to score runs against the spinners and I think we bowled well till about 18 overs and it was a case of a couple of bad overs that took the match away.

“We thought with two overs and 22 runs to win, we had a chance but Hardik (Pandya) played so well. Don’t think you can blame a particular bowler, whether it is a spinner or pacer. It is a team game,” Chahal said.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore will face the Kolkata Knight Riders next at Eden Gardens on Friday (April 19) and will be fighting to save their season.

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