At the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai Indians (MI) lost by three wickets to Gujarat Titans (GT) in their IPL 2025 encounter.

Hardik Pandya, the captain, and his team bowled a number of no balls throughout the game. “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,” Pandya said in reference to the defeat. “Catches did not really cost us,” he continued. However, I am really proud of the lads for giving it their best, keeping us in the game and not giving up.

Rain continued to delay the game at the Wankhede, and MI was on the verge of winning. The Titans were eager to play when the chance arose, while the Paltan unwound in the locker room.

There was just one over left to bowl when the game restarted when the rain ceased. GT was placed in a position where they needed to score 15 runs to win that one over. With 15 runs, the Titans were able to take the lead in the IPL 2025 points standings.

The captain of the home team believes that 175 runs would have been scored even if they lost. He also gave his bowlers credit for sustaining the battle to the very end.

“Yes, without a doubt (hard way to go down).” With the amount we had, we battled effectively. We pushed together even though we were out of the game much of the time. “It was a margin game,” Pandya said.

“It was most certainly not a 150-wicket match. We were 20–25 runs short in our batting, or maybe 30 runs if we had played effectively, in a 175-wicket match. The bowlers deserve praise. We were unable to complete the task because they continued to fight,” the 31-year-old continued.

The MI captain said that the continuous rain made it difficult to bowl in the second essay of the IPL 2025 encounter against GT.

“In the first innings, the ground wasn’t moist, but after that, the ball continued growing wetter. It was challenging; I’m not sure whether it benefited us or not. Rain continued to fall, making stoppages and restarts undesirable. However, we had to play a game (in the end), and we most certainly did,” Pandya said.

With 14 victories and a net run rate of +1.156 after the defeat, MI is now ranked fourth in the points standings. They will play the Delhi Capitals (DC) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 2025 Indian Premier League.