Mumbai Indians’ league phase did not end the way they wanted to as they lost to Punjab Kings in their final game. Going into the playoffs, the five-time champions admitted that the loss was a “wake-up call”, but at the same time, maintained that there were no reasons to panic.

Mumbai missed a chance to seal a top-two finish, suffering a seven-wicket thrashing at the hands of Punjab. The defeat sets them up for the Eliminator on Thursday.

Captain Hardik Pandya asked his men to take note of the loss, but also called it “a small blip”.

“We’ve won five trophies, it’s always been tough. If you take the foot off the accelerator, other teams take over. The message to the boys would be simple — this is a small blip, learn from it and look forward to the knockouts,” Hardik said after Monday’s game.

Opener Ryan Rickelton echoed his skipper, saying: “They (Punjab) outplayed us… so it was a bit of a wake-up call.”

But Hardik and Rickelton seemed confident that Mumbai can shrugg off the setback in their quest for glory.

“We are just want to play good cricket going forward, figure out the right template for the batting group... There’s not much panic though, we knew what was at stake. Nothing changes from the situation four days ago,” Hardik said.

Rickelton was more expressive in his assessment.

“It’s not the end of the world. In all honesty, the team is clicking very nicely, we just need to sharpen up one or two things with the bat, ball, and in the field as well.

“We’ve got the skills and group to win the Eliminator. The guys will definitely focus on the areas we need to improve, and I’m sure we’ll put up a strong performance,” the South African said.

Invited to bat first on Monday, Mumbai posted an underwhelming 184/7, which Punjab chased down with ease. Both Rickelton and Hardik felt that Mumbai were some runs short of the ideal target.

“We were obviously about 20 runs short. That said, we didn’t mind batting first. We know that if we can set up a good platform, with our bowling attack, we’re usually in a strong position. Historically, we’ve defended 200 quite well. It wasn’t a scenario we were dreading,” the left-handed batter explained.

Hardik said: “The way the wicket played, we were 20 runs short... Happens. It’s still fresh, will identify issues later.”