Mumbai Indians soar to 150 wins after Lucknow’s costly blunder

By K.R. Nayar
From Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Blunders don’t win matches. Lucknow Super Giants skipper Rishabh Pant won the toss on a hot and sunny afternoon and presented the Mumbai Indians the luxury of batting first. Thanking Pant, Mumbai’s star batters Ryan Rickelton hit 58 off 32 balls, and Suryakumar Yadav smashed 54 off 28 balls against bowlers who had to really sweat it out to get wickets. Rickelton and Yadav were backed by breezy knocks from Naman Dhir (25 off 11 balls) and Corbin Bosch (20 off 10 balls). Mumbai Indians posted a whopping total of 215 for 7 in 20 overs in the first day match of IPL 2025 at the Wankhede Stadium.

 

Bowling in the comfort of the cool evening, Mumbai restricted Lucknow to 161 and won by 54 runs. Jasprit Bumrah led Lucknow’s destruction with a deadly spell of 4 for 22. He was supported by Trent Boult with three wickets and Will Jacks with two. This marked Mumbai’s 150th victory in the IPL — the first team in league history to achieve this milestone. Chennai Super Kings have 140 wins and Kolkata Knight Riders with 134 victories. Mumbai, at the end of the day after Royal Challengers Bangalore’s six-wicket win over Delhi Capitals, are in third slot in the points table.

 

Mumbai Indians ... breaking records. Photos by BCCI/IPL 

Pant blundered again while batting. He played a reverse shot against Jacks straight into the hands of Karn Sharma at short third man for just 4 runs before he had even settled. Lucknow’s top batters also crumbled: Aiden Markram fell for just nine runs, Nicholas Pooran for 27, and Mitchell Marsh, who looked set for a big score, fell for 34. Mumbai Indians marched towards their fifth successive victory and sixth win in 10 matches. Lucknow’s name might start with "luck," but none of their batters had any. Like Pant, most of them perished by hitting straight into the hands of fielders — one after another.

 

Captains before the toss

Justifying his decision to bowl first, Pant, after the match said: “It was the right decision for us since we back our batting. We wanted to give the bowlers the best conditions, but today was not our day. The other team is also playing good cricket, and you have to give them credit instead of questioning ourselves.”

 

Suryakumar Yadav... piling up runs with ease.

However, it was clear that he had misread the wicket. Yadav, who crossed the 4000-run mark in the IPL during his half-century, had rightly said during the innings break: “Someone putting us into bat and us getting 215 is great. It is a good score. The wicket is a little slow.”  Lucknow’s inability to chase, managing only 161, exposed how poorly they had judged the pitch conditions.

Incidentally, Yadav, with his 10 consecutive scores of over 25 runs, has equalled Robin Uthappa’s IPL record. Yadav is also the current holder of the Orange Cap for the most runs in this IPL.

 

Bumrah, who had earlier dismissed the dangerous Aiden Markram for 9, also prevented David Miller from living up to his "Killer Miller" tag. He had him caught by Bosch at deep mid-wicket for 24. Bumrah’s 16th over spelled the death knell for Lucknow when he clean bowled Abdul Samad for 2 and Avesh Khan for a duck off successive deliveries.

 

Ryan Rickelton.. timely half century.

Lucknow’s Mayank Yadav, one of the fastest pacers in the country, returned from injury to bowl with pace, claiming two wickets for 40 runs, including the prized wicket of Rohit Sharma for 12. However, from the moment Mumbai Indians posted 215, it was clear Lucknow was unlikely to chase it down. The highest successful chase in a day game at the Wankhede Stadium in an IPL match has been 201, achieved by Mumbai Indians against Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2023. In fact, the highest chase in any day game across venues is 215 by Hyderabad against Punjab in 2024.

 

Lucknow Super Giants' coach Zaheer Khan explains the defeat. Photo by K.R. Nayar 

Following the victory, Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya said: “We are carrying on the momentum and everyone has been chipping in. This competition is very tough, and we can't afford to get carried away.” Meanwhile, Lucknow coach Zaheer Khan reflected: “Ten games down, five wins and five losses, it is where we stand now. It's about just playing good cricket and making sure we don't rely on the net run rate.”

They also need to make the right decisions at the right time.