A bad day for Hardik Pandya and the Mumbai Indians ended with their elimination from IPL 2025 after another loss to the Punjab Kings in Qualifier 2. Just after the game, Pandya revealed where he thought things had gone wrong in this-Hoque game in Ahmedabad.
Mumbai Indians had walked away describe amongst batters with 203 runs in 20 overs for the loss of 6 wickets. The two batsmen, Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav, both put in 44 runs, setting a very daunting target. Punjab Kings, however, executed the chase well with 6 balls remaining and 5 wickets in hand. The skipper Shreyas Iyer smashed 87 runs off just 41 balls, hitting eight sixes and five fours with a strike rate of 212.20 to seal the victory in a quintessential match at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
Iyer did not allow the bowlers of Mumbai to settle in at any time. While talking after the match, Pandya was seen gloomy while musing about the game. He said they did not put their plans into action well enough. “I think it was par. We needed to step up in a big game. They stayed calm and put pressure on us, and we were not able to hold our nerve,” he said. He also said the pitch was not an excuse; it was about bowling in the right lines, and taking responsibility for the loss as a captain.
On a bad day on the field, their star bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, gave away 40 runs in his four overs, with 20 runs coming in the first over against Josh Inglis. He was never able to find his rhythm after that. Hardik Pandya said it might have been better to save Bumrah for the last couple of overs instead of bringing him in during the 18th over, and that they really paid for it. Ashwani Kumar screwed up big time in the 19th over, hitting 26 runs for the team, which really knocked it out of MI’s grasp from the bargain.
Pandya said that because Bumrah is very experienced, he could have got the situation under control if things had gone his way. I felt keeping Bumrah for later would have been a better option; bowling him in the 17th over was too soon, he added. After this loss, MI hope to come back strong next season, whereas Punjab Kings will be busy preparing to face Royal Challengers Bangalore on June 3rd at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad for the IPL 2025 final.
