"We needed some hits": Hardik Pandya breaks silence on retiring out Tilak Varma

In the 16th match of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025), the Hardik Pandya-led Mumbai Indians (MI) locked horns with the Rishabh Pant-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).

Mumbai Indians lost the match against the Lucknow Super Giants by 12 runs at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Friday, April 4.

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It has been disappointing when you lose - Hardik Pandya

Mumbai Indians won the toss and chose to bowl first in the match. Hardik Pandya led the bowling attack from the front with his 5-wicket haul, but other bowlers were not up to the mark, and MI ended up conceding 203 runs.

Chasing the target, Suryakumar Yadav smashed a brilliant fifty while Naman Dhir came up with an incredible effort. However, MI eventually got reduced to 191/5, with Tilak Varma even retiring out in the 19th over.

Speaking after the match, Hardik Pandya said that he was very disappointed with the loss and blamed poor fielding and bowling for their defeat against Lucknow Super Giants. He also talked about his brilliant bowling performance and elaborated:

"It has been disappointing when you lose. If we have to be honest, on the field, we gave away 10-15 runs on that wicket."

"I have always enjoyed my bowling (on his fifer). I don't think I have many options. I try to read the wicket and try some smart options. I dont try to go for wickets. I try to bowl dot balls and let the batters take risks."

I think as a batting unit, we fell short - Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya was also unhappy with the performance of his batting unit and took full ownership of the loss. He said:

"I think as a batting unit, we fell short. We win as a team. We lose as a team. Don't want to point someone out. The ownership has to be taken by the whole batting unit. I take full ownership."

While talking about the decision to retire out Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya said that they needed someone to smash some boundaries and Tilak was unable to do that. He said:

"It was obvious (on Tilak being retired out). We needed some hits. In cricket, some of those days come. When you try but it doesn't come off. Just play good cricket. I like to keep it simple. Take better calls. Be smart in bowling. Take chances in batting. Play simple cricket with some aggression. As it is a long tournament, couple of wins and we might get into the rhythm."

How did MI perform in the previous IPL match against LSG?

Mumbai Indians struggled in their previous IPL match against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Wankhede Stadium and they faced an 18-run defeat - which was their 10th of the season.

MI opted to bowl first in the match and a poor performance from the bowling unit led to the LSG registering a huge score of 214/6 on the board.

Mumbai Indians used 8 bowling options - Naman Dhir, Nehal Wadhera, Anshul Kamboj, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Piyush Chawla, Hardik Pandya and Romario Shepherd - against LSG. Out of those, only Piyush Chawla and Nuwan Thushara were successful, as they bagged three wickets each.

Chasing a steep target of 215, MI got off to a flying start. Rohit looked in great touch and scored 68 runs off 38 balls. Dewald Brevis gave him decent support, and MI raced to 88 without losing any wickets.

However, MI then suffered a horrible batting collapse and were reduced to 120/5. Young batter Naman Dhir played a counter-attacking knock of 62* runs off just 28 balls, but with little support from the other end, MI were restricted to 196/6.

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