Speaking to cricbuzz after Mumbai’s defeat to Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk on Saturday, Tiwary said the season had effectively slipped away a while ago, even though a faint qualification chance remains if results go their way.

The former KKR batter pointed out that Mumbai have fallen short of their own standards, largely due to a lack of support for Hardik from the rest of the squad. While he admitted that the captaincy has not been good enough, he stressed that inconsistencies from players like Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma have hurt the team.

“For me, it’s over. It was over a long time back. The type of cricket that we got to see…the captain has to win the confidence of each of the players. You have to be the leader. But it seems Hardik has no one with him. He is not getting the kind of support that he should be getting. Yes, a captain has a role to play, which I feel he is not able to do, but other players also have to stand up. Suryakumar Yadav has not been able to perform consistently. Tilak scored in one game but did not score in the others. If there is so much inconsistency among players, how will you be able to get results? This is disappointing. This is no longer a Classico, because Chennai have won six of the last six matches,” he said.

Suryakumar has scored at a strike rate of 144 in this IPL season, but has been lacking runs. In nine innings thus far, he has averaged only 20.33 with a tally of 183. Tilak, on the other hand, has been one of the centurions this season, having smashed an unbeaten 101 against the Gujarat Titans, but scored only 92 runs in the rest of the eight innings.

Rohit Sharma has not played any of the last five matches for Mumbai since being down with a hamstring injury with no update yet on his return, while Jasprit Bumrah has picked up only three wickets this season.