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In an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Friday, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya led from the front as he picked up five wickets against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). In Match No. 16 of the 18th edition of the lucrative league, Hardik took out Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant, Aiden Markram, David Miller, and Akash Deep. He recorded his best-ever T20 figures with this spell of 5/36, surpassing his previous best of 4/16 against New Zealand in Ahmedabad in 2023. He is also the first captain in the tournament's history to take five wickets in the IPL.
Shane Warne currently holds the record for most IPL wickets taken by a skipper, and behind him is Hardik Pandya. While Pandya had 30 wickets, the former Rajasthan Royals captain took 57. Mitchell Marsh gave the hosts a strong start by smashing 60 runs off 31 balls, and the Lucknow Super Giants were on fire. But the right-hander was dismissed by Vignesh Puthur, which allowed the Mumbai Indians to reduce the number of runs scored.
In the ninth over, Hardik then joined the attack and was rewarded right away after dismissing Nicholas Pooran, who has been a dangerous player in this season. The all-rounder dismissed LSG skipper Rishabh Pant shortly after.
Miller praised Hardik Pandya
Lucknow Super Giants' star batter David Miller praised Hardik following the first innings, stating that he is a terrific bowler and a little quicker than people realize.
“He is a good bowler. He is a little bit quicker than you think. He has got good variations, he holds the length really really well. He bowled really well tonight. Hopefully, one of our bowlers could do the same,” said LSG batter David Miller during the mid-innings.
After being asked to bat first, LSG scored 203/8 in the 20 overs. The Lucknow-based team scored more than 200 runs thanks to knocks of Mitchell Marsh (60) and Aiden Markram (53). Once again, LSG captain Rishabh Pant fell short with a just two runs off six balls. This is his fourth consecutive low score in the current IPL 2025 tournament.
"The feedback we got from the guys who batted for a while was it was slow and it stuck in the pitch. A good back of a length ball squatted a little. Good wicket, but we will use those variations. No dew as of now but hope our bowlers execute on what we have been talking about in the last few days," Miller added.
