While he was disappointed that the Mumbai Indians suffered a shock loss to the Rajasthan Royals, Captain Kieron Pollard could not help but feel especially aggrieved for one of his teammates, Hardik Pandya.

Batting first, Mumbai were struggling at 101 for 4 after 13 overs after Pollard was bowled by Shreyas Gopal for 6. At 7.76 an over, Mumbai were looking at a score of between 155 and 170. However, Pandya smashed 60 that included two fours and seven sixes while facing just 21 balls to propel Mumbai to a competitive 195 for 5.

What they didn’t bank on was Ben Stokes smearing Mumbai’s bowlers all over the park, scoring an unbeaten 107 from 60 balls and Sanju Sampson’s 54 from 31 balls to see the Royals race to 196 for 2 with all of 10 balls to spare.

Pollard, filling in for a second game for Rohit Sharma, who is out with an injured hamstring paid tribute to Stokes but felt for Pandya, whose heroic efforts were in vain.

“I thought Hardik brought us straight back into the game, but well played to Stokes and well played to Samson,” said Pollard who now has one loss and a win as the stand-in captain.

He believed the conditions helped the Royals more than they did Mumbai.

“The wicket ended up being a good wicket with a little bit of dew. It played into their strengths. But having said that, well played to the opposition,” said Pollard, who was not particularly concerned that the loss would impact Mumbai’s ambitions of being among the top-two teams at the end of the regular season.

“It really doesn't do much to the campaign, we still have three games to do. We just have to come out with good cricket. Our bowlers tried but it wasn't meant to be today,” he said.

“[Hardik] keeps showing time and time again, doesn't matter the position of the team. Tough luck an innings like that he ends up on the losing side.”