Captain Hardik Pandya Underlines Reason Behind Mumbai Indians' Defeat To Punjab Kings In IPL 2025: 'Our Batting Needed To Capitalise'

IPL 2025: Mumbai Indians (MI) conceded a disappointing seven-wicket defeat to Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 69th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, on Monday, May 26th.

Punjab Kings' Josh Inglis was named the 'Player of the Match' for his 73-run knock from 42 balls at a strike rate of 173.81. The Australians' blitz knock helped Punjab chase down the 185-run target without facing any trouble.

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Suryakumar Yadav again played a fiery knock of 57 runs from 39 balls, however, his effort went in vain as Mumbai failed to make it into the top two.

Meanwhile, MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored 26 runs from 15 balls at a strike rate of 173.33. He hammered 2 fours and 2 sixes during his time on the crease.

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Hardik Pandya Highlights Reason Behind MI's Defeat To PBKS

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Hardik Pandya pointed out the reasons that caused Mumbai Indians' defeat to Punjab Kings, and said that the five-time IPL champions were short by just 20 runs. He added that they will rectify where they went wrong and come back stronger.

"The way the wicket played, we were 20 runs short. Happens. We've been playing good cricket but didn't tonight, that cost us. We've won five trophies, it's always been tough. If you take the foot off the accelerator, other teams take over. The message would be simple: this is a small blip, learn from it and look forward to the knockout. It's still fresh, will identify issues later. Our batting needed to capitalise to get 20 more though," Hardik Pandya said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Summarizing The Match Between PBKS And MI

Recapping the match, Suryakumar Yadav played a pivotal role in the first inning for the Mumbai Indians as he powered MI to 184/7.

Arshdeep Singh led the Punjab bowling attack with his two-wicket haul in his four-over spell and gifted just 28 runs.

During the run chase, Priyansh Arya's 62-run knock from 35 balls and Josh Inglis' 73-run knock from 42 balls helped Punjab Kings to chase down the target easily with two overs remaining.

Mitchell Santner led the Mumbai Indians bowling attack with his two-wicket haul, but it was not enough to restrict the target.