Mumbai Indians (MI) captain Hardik Pandya was heartbroken and teary-eyed after his team’s devastating loss to Punjab Kings (PBKS) in IPL Qualifier 2 2025. The match took place in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. MI was eliminated from the competition, and PBKS will now play Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Tuesday’s (June 3) summit match.
After winning toss MI batted and set up a decent target of 203 for 6 in 20 overs. Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma made 44 runs each and Jonny Bairstow (38) and Naman Dhir (37) also put up handy knocks.
In a reponse, Shreyas Iyer led PBKS from the front in the chase with a stupendous knock of 87* (41) as the side comfortably went on to win by five wickets in 19 overs. The Hardik Pandya was in tears after Iyer’s winning six, but it was Suryakumar Yadav and other trying to console him.
In the video below, you can see a peek of Hardik Pandya in trouble:
A 1⃣1⃣ year wait ends… 🥹#PBKS are in the #TATAIPL 2025 Final and who better than Captain Shreyas Iyer to take them through ❤
Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/vIzPVlDqoC#PBKSvMI | #Qualifier2 | #TheLastMile | @PunjabKingsIPL pic.twitter.com/vILymKxqXp
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) June 1, 2025Hardik Pandya admits MI fell short in key moments after loss to PBKS
At the post-match presentation, MI captain Hardik Pandya praised the PBKS hitters before admitting that his bowling unit did not execute their plans well. The all-rounder remarked after the loss:
“They batted really well. I think it was a par total but it needed some really great execution as a bowling unit which in all these big games, really matters. They were really, really calm and put us under pressure. We were not able to execute the way we wanted. I’ll not put it on the wicket. If we had to do something better it was to bowl better lengths and bowl the right ball at the right time.”
Hardik Pandya
“Maybe I could have managed the troops better and the result could have been different. In hindsight, it would have been different but we could have left it a bit too early as well. Boom, knowing him, even if 18 balls were left, Jassi can be Jassi and do something special. It just didn’t happen today.”
Hardik Pandya
