Mumbai Indians lost to Punjab Kings and the chance for a top-2 finish
Mumbai Indians had begun the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 on a sour note, losing to arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings by four wickets. They looked lacklustre for the first five matches of the campaign losing four of them and winning only one against an out-of-depth Kolkata Knight Riders.
But then the match in Delhi against the then undefeated Delhi Capitals happened which turned their fortunes around. Having to defend 48 runs off the last five overs, MI bowlers claimed five wickets in the five overs and claimed a 12-run victory.
From then, Hardik Pandya’s side won six games in a row and rapidly climbed up the table. Despite an unlucky loss against Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings in their final league match, they have qualified for the playoffs by putting the last-season’s bottom-placed finish behind them.
They even had the chance to finish the top-two in Jaipur on Monday but Punjab Kings made sure they were kept at bay at every turn.
ALSO READ:
Despite Suryakumar Yadav’s stunning 57 off 39 balls, MI’s batting was pegged back by a disciplined PBKS bowling attack and restricted to 184/7 in 20 overs on a good batting track.
In reply, Josh Inglis slammed 73 off 42 balls while opener Priyansh Arya scored 62 off 35 balls to set up a massive seven-wicket win for Shreyas Iyer’s team.
One big change MI had made for the match was leaving out spinner Karn Sharma who was crucial to their turnaround win against DC when he picked up 3-36.
Sharma played the next five matches out of which MI has won four and lost only one. Which is similar to their four losses from their first five matches before the spinner played a game.
The 37-year-old can be called as MI’s ‘Lucky Charm’ but it wasn’t just his presence but the match-ups he had and the performances he put in. Sharma claimed seven wickets from six matches at an economy of 8.5 which have provided MI strength in the middle and death overs.
Against Punjab Kings, their batters were unable to fire in unison on a pitch that aided batting while their bowlers had too little to defend.
For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube.
