With Mumbai Indians needing 29 runs off 12 balls with six wickets in hand and with Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma at the crease, it looked like the five-time winner of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 would score their second win of the season.
However, Lucknow Super Giants pacers Shardul Thakur and Avesh Khan bowled superbly in the last two overs, especially Thakur, who hails from Mumbai and bowled a brilliant penultimate over in which he gave away only five runs.
Mumbai was forced to retire out Tilak Varma. Hardik Pandya blasted a six off the final over but in the last four balls with 16 needed off five balls, he could manage only three runs and Mumbai Indians fell short by 12 runs and lost their third match in four.
There's always pressure when you are bowling the penultimate or the last over. Avesh bowled brilliantly at the last. That's what we get paid for. Happy to be on the winning side and executing correctly. Tricky surface. Sometimes slower ones worked, but we saw boundaries being hit off slower ones.
"Eventually came down to the better yorkers. We do see what's happened in the first half. But the pitch changes over the course of the game and gets better at night. It is up to the bowlers to adjust their lines and variations. Need to have a lot in our kitty to adjust," said Thakur.
The match played on a black-soil pitch was tilted in favour of the bowlers. Mumbai Indians' captain Hardik Pandya claimed a five-wicket haul after openers Mitchell Marsh (60) and Aiden Markram (56) raised 76 runs for the opening wicket. But Mumbai Indians fought back and with Ayush Badoni's 30 off 19 and 27 by David Miller off 14 balls, LSG posted a par score of 203/8 in 20 overs. Pandya finished with 5-36.
When you get a good start, you are always ahead of the game. The idea is to play according to the situation. The start Marsh gave helped the lower middle capitalize on that.
Chasing 204 for victory, Mumbai Indians, who went into the match without the out-of-form Rohit Sharma, got off to a poor start with Will Jacks falling to Akash Deep for five runs. Ryan Rickelton (10) too was out cheaply and Mumbai fell to 17/3.
But Naman Dhir (46) and Suryakumar Yadav (67) added 69 runs for the third wicket to raise hopes of victory. But Digvesh Rathi claimed the crucial wicket of Naman Dhir and through Yadav and Tilak Varma (25) added 66 runs for the fourth wicket, the going was slow as the LSG bowlers applied the brakes, and Varma, whose 25 came off 23 balls, struggled and could not hit the big ones. Mumbai eventually finished at 191/5 and lost the match by 12 runs. This is LSG's first win at home this season.
Disappointing when you lose. If we had to be honest, in the field, 10-12 runs we gave too much. We fell short in the end. As a batting unit, we fell short. We win as a team, we lose as a team. I take full ownership.
This is LSG's sixth win in seven matches as they maintained their dominant show against Mumbai Indians.
Brief Scores: Lucknow Super Giants 203/8 in 20 overs (Mitchell Marsh 60, Aiden Markram 53, Ayush Badoni 30; Hardik Pandya 5-36) beat Mumbai Indians 191/5 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 67, Naman Dhir 46, Hardik Pandya 25; Digvesh Rathi 1-21, Shardul Thakur 1-40) by 12 runs.
