Mumbai Indians suffered their third defeat in four matches in the IPL 2025 season, going down in another nail-biter despite being in control for a large part of the run chase. With questions being raised around the team’s strategies, particularly the decision to retire out Tilak Varma in the penultimate over of the chase, MI captain Hardik Pandya stepped up and took responsibility.
“I take full ownership,” Pandya said after the match. “We win as a team, we lose as a team. As a batting unit, we fell short. In the field, we gave 10-12 runs too many. That made the difference.”
The biggest talking point of the game came when Tilak Varma was retired out in the chase as he was struggling to score quickly. Mitchell Santner was sent in by the think tank to finish for MI and provide support to Hardik, but in vain as LSG won by 12 runs. It is an extremely rare move in IPL. This is only they fourth time a player was retired out in the IPL.
Explaining the bold call, Pandya said, “We needed some hits, and Tilak was not getting those. In cricket, some days come when you try, but the runs just don’t come. It was purely a tactical decision.”
