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3 Tactical Blunders By Hardik Pandya That Led To Mumbai Indians' Defeat vs Gujarat Titans

Abhinav Tyagi

Mumbai Indians - (Source : @Johns/X.com)Mumbai Indians - (Source : @Johns/X.com)

Things are not going right for Mumbai Indians, as the Men in Blue have suffered their second straight defeat in IPL 2025. The five-time winners started their campaign with a loss against Chennai Super Kings and have now faced a 36-run defeat against Gujarat Titans. 

It was an underwhelming show by MI stars as they were sloppy in the field, wayward with the ball and looked defensive in the bat. Further, there were several tactical blunders from Hardik Pandya and MI Management that led to the embarrassing defeat at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Meanwhile, this article will shed light on three tactical blunders made by MI vs Gujarat Titans. 

1. Dropping In-Form Vignesh Puthur

The first decision that didn't made much of a sense and got the fans talking was the absence of in-form Vignesh Puthur from the playing XI. Notably, MI fielded Vignesh in their match against CSK and Puthur's spell nearly helped MI defend a small total of 156 runs.

Puthur, who played his first professional match against CSK is new, and there aren't many video analysts who could search for him. Thus, the surprise element could have done wonders for MI against GT. However, the Indians missed the trick, and despite a three-wicket haul against the Men in Yellow, they went ahead with Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Satyanarayana Raju, who had a day to forget despite a wicket to his name. 

2.Sending Robin Minz Ahead Of Hardik Pandya

Chasing a target of 197 runs, MI got off to the most unpleasant start as they were 97/3 after 11.3 overs with SKY at one end. It was the perfect opportunity for Hardik Pandya to guide his team to a victory, but in a surprising turn of events, Robin Minz was promoted ahead of the MI captain in such a crunch situation. 

Minz failed to create any impact and returned to the pavilion for a low score of 3 (6). Eventually, Hardik walked to bat when MI were 108/4 in 13 overs and the situation had become even more tougher for Pandya to weave his magic. 

3. Dropping Will Jacks

Mumbai Indians are known to back their players and as a surprise, they dropped Will Jacks. The English star is a renowned name and can create an impact with the ball as well. However, it came as a surprise for many. 

Further, Jacks has had great stats in Ahmedabad as he slammed a century at the Narendra Modi Stadium last year vs KKR playing for RCB.