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Hardik Pandya's Biggest Blunder Revealed; India Great Highlights Reason Behind MI's Defeat

Aakash Saini

Hardik Pandya after MI defeat [Source: @IPL/x]Hardik Pandya after MI defeat [Source: @IPL/x]

Mumbai Indians lost to Gujarat Titans off the last-ball of a topsy-turvy rain-marred affair at the Wankhede Stadium on May 6. Chasing a revised target of 147 runs from 19 overs, Titans’ lower-order batters Gerald Coetzee and Rahul Tewatia took full toll of a struggling Deepak Chahar.

After the match, former cricketer and prominent commentator Sunil Gavaskar slammed Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya for not bowling the final over by giving the responsibility to Chahar instead. 

Gavaskar recalled Pandya’s final-over success stories from the past, including the tight last over from India’s historic 2024 T20 World Cup final win over South Africa in June last year.

Gavaskar believes Hardik should have bowled last over

While speaking on JioStar, former Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar said that Hardik Pandya should have delivered the final over against Gujarat Titans at the Wankhede Stadium. Gavaskar recalled Pandya’s two successful final-over defences from the past, including the 2024 T20 World Cup final against South Africa and the 2016 T20 World Cup match against Bangladesh. He said:

“As I explained earlier, because of the fact that he had bowled those final overs - and bowled them very well - he bowled over against Bangladesh where, I mean, we got 3 wickets, Bangladesh had to score 4 or 5, and India managed to win that game by 1. And then in the final of the ICC T20 World Cup last year in the West Indies, in Barbados, he bowled that final over and India win.”

Sunil Gavaskar also added that Deepak Chahar has not been bowling the death overs lately, and giving him the decisive over probably changed the game. He added:

“So with that, with one over left, I would have thought that, in commentary we heard that Deepak Chahar really hasn't bowled in the final 5 overs. This is probably one of those rare occasions, so he’s not used to bowling in the final overs. I think that is where the game could have changed.”

Mumbai Indians will now face Punjab Kings in their penultimate match of the IPL 2025 season on Sunday, May 11. The match will be hosted by the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala.