Gujarat Titans won the match by 3 wickets.
Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mahela Jayawardene has blamed the poor execution of their pacer Deepak Chahar after their 3-wicket loss against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in a rain-hit contest in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. This defeat also ended their six-match winning streak of this edition.
“It was not the decision [to not bowl MI skipper Hardik Pandya], it was the execution[of Chahar]. That’s where we lost the game. My thinking is we lost the game when we had control of it and that was disappointing,” he said in the post-match press conference.
He backed Chahar over the Mumbai Indians’ captain Hardik Pandya to bowl the last over. When rain interrupted the clash for a second time, GT was 132/6 in 18 overs, five runs behind the DLS par score of 137.
The game resumed in less than an hour and the umpires declared to go with one more over to decide the result. According to the revised target, GT needed 15 off 6 deliveries to win the match. A four, six and no-ball off Chahar in the final over saw the Titans take two points to reclaim the top spot in the points table.
However, the head coach doesn’t believe that the result could have gone their way if he bowled MI skipper Pandya in that over. Previously, he conceded 18 runs in his only over last night.
Deepak did that job for us when Booms [Jasprit Bumrah] was not there [for the first few games of the season]. He was good, our main bowler. It’s easier for you to ask me that question and for me to say, ‘yeah, maybe Hardik’. Had Hardik gone for three sixes, you might have asked me why you didn’t bowl Deepak,” complained Jayawardene.
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While pointing out Chahar’s lack of execution in that final over, the former Sri Lankan batter also supported MI’s strategy, despite their narrow home match loss.
“Throughout the game, we made some good decisions with the ball when we had to attack. Deepak’s execution – a couple of balls he missed, they hit some good shots. We bowled a no-ball as well on top of that and we still came down to the last ball,” he added.
The five-time IPL champions started off their IPL 2025 campaign with only one win in their initial five matches. However, they made a tremendous comeback to register six consecutive victories which brought them back into the playoffs qualification race.
Currently, they are placed fourth in the points table with seven wins in 12 matches. MI will need at least one win out of their remaining two fixtures, to secure a place in the playoffs. Pandya and Co. will next take on the Punjab Kings in Dharamsala on May 11.
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