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Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya reckons the no-ball he bowled along with other bowlers during their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 clash against Gujarat Titans (GT) was a 'crime' after the Shubman Gill-led side registered three-wicket win by the DLS method at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
In the nail-biter playoffs race, MI who made a comeback after a poor start, was in favour as the hosts stood five runs ahead in DLS, as it rained cats and dogs after the 18th over. While MI relaxed in the dressing room, the Titans looked raring to go when the opportunity presented itself.
The weather gods left enough on the clock to allow a one-over contest to settle the winner of the nervy fixture. GT needed 15 runs off the final six deliveries, and Mumbai had only four fielders outside the inner ring after being penalised for slow over rate.
Deepak Chahar came to bowl the last over and conceded a four and then a towering six to bring the equation down to five runs in three balls, then he bowled a no-ball that changed the game's momentum.
Apart from Chahar's no-ball, Hardik also bowled two no-balls in his 11-ball eighth over. Apart from no-balls, MI also made a blunder by dropping Shubman Gill's catch on the second ball of the 12th over. Shubman played a lofted shot on Ashwani Kumar's delivery and Tilak Varma sprinted towards the landing zone but floored the opportunity.
"Catches did not really cost us, but the no-balls, with my no-balls and even in the last no-ball, in my eyes in T20s, it is a crime and more often than not, it bites you. But I am really happy with the boys for giving their 120 per cent, ensuring we were in the game and not giving up" said Hardik Pandya in a post match presentation.
Hardik accepted that MI fell 20 to 30 runs short of putting up a competitive total but sang a verse in the praise of his bowlers for their valiant display.
"Yes, definitely (tough way to go down). We fought well with the total we had. Most of the time, we were out of the game, but we pushed as a group. It was a game of margins," he said.
"It was definitely not a 150-wicket. It was a 175-wicket, we were short in batting by 20-25 or maybe 30 runs if we had batted well. Credit to the bowlers. They kept fighting, and we could not finish the job," he added.
"The ground, in the first innings, was not wet, but post that, throughout, the ball kept getting wetter. Not sure if it helped us or not, it was difficult. Rain kept coming in, not ideal to have stoppages and start again. But the game goes on, we had to play a game (in the end), and we definitely did," he concluded.
After losing against the Gujarat Titans, the Mumbai Indians are currently at number four in the points table tally. The Mumbai-based franchise will now face Punjab Kings in their upcoming clasg on May 11 at HPCA Stadium.
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