Hardik Pandya: In their last league match, Mumbai Indians faced defeat against Punjab Kings.
On 26 May, Mumbai Indians suffered a crushing defeat against Punjab Kings in their last league match of IPL 2025. With this defeat, Mumbai’s hopes of finishing in the top 2 were shattered. MI is in the playoffs, but now they will have to play in the eliminator match, from where there is a long and difficult path to reach the final.
Punjab Kings won this match by 7 wickets and confirmed their place in the top 2, from where they will get two chances to reach the final. They will have to face Gujarat Titans or RCB in Qualifier 1. This will be decided after the LSG vs RCB match. On the other hand, Hardik Pandya looked angry after the defeat and he scolded all the players for this.
Hardik Pandya became red with anger after the defeat
MI captain Hardik Pandya, while talking about the reasons for the loss in the post match presentation ceremony, said, “The way the wicket was playing, we obviously fell short by 20 runs. It happens, we are playing really good cricket, it was one of those days when we didn’t really play our best cricket and it cost us. IPL is like that, this franchise has won five trophies, it has always been tough. Whenever you slow down the pace of the match, the other teams are also very eager to win the game.”
Captain Pandya further said, “The message for the team will be simple, it was just a defeat, learn from it and move towards the knockouts. It is very fresh, we will recognize later, but as an overall batting unit, we definitely fell short by 20 runs. We could have taken advantage of it in the beginning or in the middle, we will figure it out later.” The captain further said, “Overall, we could not perform as expected and we had to bear the brunt of it.” Regarding the eliminator, Hardik Pandya said, “Play good cricket, bat well, bowl well, work on plans, see what blueprint will work as a batting group.
The bowlers have been doing really well throughout the season. While batting, we will prepare the right blueprint on the right track and if we bat first, at what pace we want to bat. There are some things we need to identify, but I don’t think we should panic too much. We knew what was at stake. Looking forward to the eliminator.”
