NEW DELHI: Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya described the no-balls bowled by him and his teammates as a “crime” following their three-wicket defeat via the DLS method against Gujarat Titans in a thrilling contest at the Wankhede Stadium. In the midst of a tight playoffs race, heavy rain momentarily swung momentum in Mumbai’s favour, with the hosts ahead by five runs on the DLS chart after 18 overs. As MI waited in the dressing room, hoping for a rain-shortened win, Gujarat Titans remained ready for any opportunity.Eventually, there was just enough time left on the clock for a one-over shootout to determine the winner. GT needed 15 runs off the final six deliveries, and Mumbai were left with only four fielders outside the inner circle after being penalised for a slow over rate.Deepak Chahar was handed the task of bowling the final over. He conceded a boundary and then a massive six, reducing the equation to five runs from three balls. Succumbing to pressure, he bowled a no-ball that handed the momentum squarely to the Titans.In addition to Deepak’s costly error, Hardik himself overstepped twice during his 11-ball eighth over. The no-ball troubles weren’t MI’s only missteps—earlier, they dropped a crucial catch of Gujarat captain Shubman Gill on the second ball of the 12th over. Gill miscued a shot off Ashwani Kumar, and though Tilak Varma sprinted in to take the catch, he failed to hold on.
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Reflecting on the defeat, which ended MI’s six-match winning streak, Hardik said, “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.”Mumbai’s bowlers had fought valiantly after the batters put up a sub-par performance. Despite top-order failures, Will Jacks (53), Suryakumar Yadav (35), and Corbin Bosch (27) managed to take MI to 155/8—helped by some fortunate moments.Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult then led a spirited bowling effort. Bumrah dismissed Gill and Shahrukh Khan, while Boult trapped Sherfane Rutherford lbw to keep MI in the hunt.Hardik admitted that Mumbai were 20–30 runs short of a competitive total but commended the bowling unit for their resilience.“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.
Rain repeatedly interrupted the match, and although Hardik acknowledged the disruptions were far from ideal, he stressed the need to adapt.“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.
