IPL: Pandya heroics in vain as Mumbai suffer third loss

Lucknow Super Giants beat Mumbai Indians in Lucknow on Friday, winning by 12 runs despite Hardik Pandya’s brilliance with the bat and ball.

The loss is Mumbai’s third in four matches this season, lengthening the five-time champions to the fourth line of betting ($8) to win the 2025 IPL after they were title favourites across cricket bookmakers pre-tournament.

LSG batted first and made a fast start through openers Mitchell Marsh (60 from 31) and Aiden Markram (53 from 38), racing out to 76 without loss in the seventh over.

When both fell in quick succession and this season’s main contributors Nicholas Pooran (12 from 6) and Rishabh Pant (2 from 6) failed to stick around, the hosts looked set for a sub-par total.

However, the middle order of Ayush Badoni (30 from 19) and David Miller (27 from 14) did their job, hauling LSG past the 200-run mark to end on 203/8 from their 20 overs.

MI captain Pandya was the standout bowler for his side, taking 5/36 as the rest of Mumbai’s attack struggled.

• 

  Fast Payouts

The visitors lost two early wickets as they attempted to chase 204, with Will Jacks (5 from 7) and Ryan Rickelton (10 from 5) both getting caught by Ravi Bishnoi at deep backward square leg.

Mumbai looked to have the chase under control after the loss of Rickelton and Jacks, however, as Naman Dhir (46 from 24) and Suryakumar Yadav (67 from 43) put on 69 for the third wicket.

Tilak Varma (25 from 23) then combined with Suryakumar to add another 66 for the fourth wicket, firmly shifting live betting odds in MI’s favour.

However, clinical bowling from LSG – including the wicket of Suryakumar at the start of the 17th over – meant they were able to hold off Mumbai, despite Pandya also making 28 from 16 with the bat.

Afterwards, LSG captain Pant described the match as “mentally tough”, but praised the start his batsmen gave the team.

“The start Marsh gave helped lower middle capitalise on that,” he said.

“When you get a good start, you are always ahead of the game.

“We wanted a different kind of wicket before and then we decided whatever is on offer, we play on that.

“Mentally tough game, they did not lose a lot of wickets and kept on going.

“But we kept our calm and finished the game.”

LSG were on the last line of betting across IPL bookies heading into the match, but now shorten to the second-to-last, priced at $13 to win the competition by the top online bookmakers.

The victory takes them to sixth on the table with two wins from four matches – one spot ahead of Mumbai, who are seventh with just one win.

Sports news