The Mumbai Indians dropped to the fourth spot after winning the match against Gujarat Titans by three wickets via the DLS method. Former India coach Anil Kumble pointed out that MI’s woes for the playoffs are looking tougher and stressed that they obviously need to win their last two matches in order to make it to the knockouts without help from any other team.
MI were off to a bad start, having managed only a single win in their first five games. But they picked up the momentum, going on an unbeaten run for six matches and even groveled to the top of the points table for a while. Unfortunately, that six-match win streak came to an end when they lost to GT at home on Tuesday, worsening their chances for that top-two finish. MI will end with 18 points and with decent chances for a play-off spot if they win both of the remaining matches, but that does not guarantee a top-two finish as Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Gujarat Titans, and Punjab Kings can all overtake them.
As Kumble said on Jio Hotstar, “18 points should be enough for the playoffs. GT needs just one more win from their remaining three to make it, but Mumbai has to win both. At 16 points, things can get tricky – you want to avoid depending on other teams’ results. From winning six in a row to losing today, MI should aim to control their own fate.”
GT won the toss and chose to bowl first. They restricted Mumbai Indians to 155 for 8 in their 20 overs. It was particularly impressive for Sai Kishore, who picked up two wickets. Siraj, Khan, Coetzee, and Krishna got one each.
Meanwhile, key contributions came in from Shubman Gill (43), Jos Buttler (30), and Sherfane Rutherford (28); however, rain interfered twice in the match, thus setting a new target for the team to chase down: 147 runs in 19 overs. In the last of 19 overs, needing just 15 runs, the trio of Tewatia, Coetzee, and Khan clinched thrill-filled win for GT at Wankhede.
With this fascinating victory, GT again found themselves at the top of the IPL 2025 points table with 16 points from 11 matches. Speaking on the match and that last over, Kumble said, “That last over was crucial. As a bowler in that situation, you want to avoid giving away boundaries. With the dew and low bounce, it made it easier for GT. When you have batters like Coetzee who said post-match, ‘see ball, hit ball’ — it’s hard to stop. It was a fantastic game — everything came down to that last over. Both teams had to regroup several times due to the interruptions, but in the end, GT kept their cool.”
GT will want to carry forward their good run against the Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday. Meanwhile, MI will meet Punjab Kings later in the day.
