Hardik Pandya was criticised for some poor decisions during the second innings.
Mumbai Indians (MI) lost to Punjab Kings (PBKS) by seven wickets in Match 69 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 in Jaipur on Monday. The defeat ended MI’s hopes of a top-two finish and confirmed their place in the Eliminator.
Punjab successfully chased 185 with nine balls to spare, led by half-centuries from Priyansh Arya and Josh Inglis, who shared a 109-run stand. MI ended the league stage in fourth place with 16 points from 14 games.
MI captain Hardik Pandya was criticised for some poor decisions during the second innings. His mistakes gave Punjab the upper hand and played a big role in helping them seal a place in Qualifier 1.
Mumbai Indians had a good chance when Jasprit Bumrah got Prabhsimran Singh out in the fifth over, with Punjab at 35 runs. But things went wrong after that. Hardik Pandya gave Deepak Chahar the last over of the powerplay, which went for 12 runs. Before that, Chahar had already given 16 runs. So after starting with a maiden, Chahar gave away 28 runs in his next two overs.
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When Josh Inglis came in as the new batter, Hardik could have brought Bumrah back to put pressure on him. Instead, he chose to bowl Mitchell Santner from one end and himself from the other. This allowed Inglis to settle and gain confidence.
Bumrah bowled his second over very late, in the tenth over, by which time both Inglis and Priyansh Arya were well set. Punjab had already reached 84 for one. In the same over, Mumbai had a chance to run out Arya, but Hardik missed the stumps even though Arya had given up.
Hardik also took a chance by bringing in Will Jacks to bowl the sixteenth over, but it did not work as he gave away 12 runs. That over could have been given to Bumrah, who still had one over left and might have picked up a crucial wicket when Mumbai needed it the most. Bumrah bowled the next over, but by then Punjab needed only 27 runs from 24 balls. Impact player Ashwani Kumar bowled just one over, and that too went for 16 runs. Overall, Hardik’s bowling decisions did not help Mumbai and made it tough for them to defend the total.
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