In two games since the IPL 2025 began, former Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma has only managed to score eight runs.
Hardik Pandya, the captain of the Mumbai Indians (MI), stated after his team’s defeat against the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) that it was difficult to deal with slower deliveries on a challenging surface and that his team fell behind by 15 to 20 runs in both batting and bowling. Hardik’s terrible performance as MI captain continued into the second season, when he lost to his old team, GT, by 36 runs at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium in his first game as manager following a slow-over-rate ban. MI’s own batting collapsed in the last few overs, but they produced a spectacular recovery in the dying overs to finish GT’s innings at 196.
In the post-match presentation following the game, Hardik stated, “It was difficult to piece together, but I believe we were 15-20 runs short in both batting and bowling. We lost by 20 to 25 runs because we were amateurs and made simple mistakes, which is a significant amount in a Twenty20 match. The GT openers did a fantastic job at bat. They were quite good; they made the proper decisions, they didn’t take many chances, and they scored runs without taking many opportunities. Since then, we have been making up lost time. Since it’s still early, we all need to accept responsibility for it right now.It is necessary for batters to attend the celebration; perhaps, they will do so shortly. The slower deliveries on this wicket were the hardest balls to hit; some bounced, some shot, making it challenging for batters. With the ball, they (the GT bowlers) did what I did.
MI won the toss going into the game and chose to bowl first. Sai Sudarshan and Shubman Gill (38 in 27 balls, four boundaries, and a six) opened the scoring for GT with a 78-run partnership. A half-century partnership between Jos Buttler (39 in 24 balls, with five fours and a six) and Sudarshan also occurred.Hardik Pandya (2/29) was MI’s best bowler, with wickets taken by Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, Mujeeb ur Rahman, and Satyanarayana Raju.
Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma (8) were gone early in MI’s 197-run chase. But with a 62-run partnership, Tilak Varma (39 in 36 balls, with three fours and a six) and Suryakumar Yadav (48 in 28 balls, with a four and four sixes) attempted to fight for MI. MI lost their footing after being dismissed and were reduced to 160/6 in 20 overs.
Mohammed Siraj (2/34) and Prasidh Krishna (2/18) were GT’s top bowlers. Each of Sai Kishore and Kagiso Rabada took a wicket.
