IPL 2025: Lucknow Super Giants vs Mumbai Indians, Match 16 - Who Said What?

Match 16 of the ongoing IPL 2025 (Indian Premier League) season witnessed the hosts Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) clashing with the visitors, Mumbai Indians. Notably, the match took place at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, on Friday, April 4.

Courtesy of the fifties from Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram, LSG managed to post a competitive total of 203/8. While on the other side, MI captain Hardik Pandya starred with the ball by claiming a five-wicket haul. However, a late cameo from David Miller meant that Lucknow got past the 200-run mark.

Talking Points

1. Marsh and Markram led the charge 

Australia's big-hitting all rounder Mitchell Marsh played a dominating knock (60 runs off 31 balls) in the powerplay phase. Interestingly, he got a reprieve and made the most of it by scoring a vital half-century. During his thrilling knock, Marsh smashed two sixes and nine fours, respectively.

Apart from him, Aiden Markram played the anchor role with a commendable fifty (53 runs off 38 balls) before shifting his gear after captain Rishabh Pant got out cheaply. In the later stages, Ayush Badoni provided a late flourish with a 30-run cameo off 19 balls.

2. Hardik Pandya's 5-wicket haul

Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya was the star of the day with the ball. He became the first captain to take a fifer. Batters like Nicholas Pooran and Markram were his key victims.

In Jasprit Bumrah's absence, the skipper led from the front and used subtle variations to bamboozle the batters. As a result, at one stage, Lucknow were looking set to score 225 and beyond but Pandya's bowling restricted them from scoring those surplus runs.

3. Suryakumar Yadav's fifty in landmark 100th match goes in vain

In reply to the run chase, MI had a terrible start as they lost both the openers in the form of Will Jacks and Ryan Rickleton in quick succession in the third over. However, youngster Naman Dhir, who missed out on a well-deserved fifty (46 runs off 24 balls) by a whisker, stitched a crucial 69-run stand with Suryakumar Yadav for the third wicket. Suryakumar too got going in his landmark 100th match for MI and paced his innings quite beautifully.

However, he failed to stay till the end and got dismissed by pacer Avesh Khan in the 17th over with MI still needing 52 runs to win. The equation got stiffer for Mumbai as they slowed down in the middle stages as Digvesh Rathi's economical bowling helped Luckow take the game down to the wire.

4. Tilak gets retired hurt out, Hardik fails to finish for Mumbai

In the end, the pair of Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya (28* runs off 16 balls) tried to take the game deep. But suddenly, to everyone's surprise, MI opted to get Varma "retired hurt" out and sent Mitchell Santner, as he was not able to play his natural aggressive game. LSG Captain Pant handed the last over to Avesh Khan with 22 runs needed to defend. Pandya who did smoke the first ball of the final over for a six, failed to hit cleanly in the rest of the over. As a result, the MI captain failed to take his side home as LSG sealed a dramatic first victory at home over the Mumbai Indians by 12 runs in the IPL 2025 nailbiter.

Meanwhile, here's what the captains and POTM (Player of the Match) said regarding how the match turned out on the Wankhede IPL opener:

Who Said What?

Rishabh Pant, LSG (Winning captain) said,

The wicket is playing well and we need to figure out what's working for us and what not. We wanted a different kind of wicket before and then we decided whatever is on offer, we play on that. When you get a good start, you are always ahead of the game. The idea is to play according to the situation. The start Marsh gave helped lower middle capitalise on that. Mentally tough game, they did not lose a lot of wickets and kept on going. Bu we kept our calm and finished the game. [Thakur] has been amazing for us, he has been an amazing pick. Hope he continues. [Rathi] one of our leading bowlers. The way he keeps calm in tough situation helps us.

Hardik Pandya, MI (Losing captain) said,

It has been disappointing when you lose. If we have to be honest, on the field, we gave away 10-15 runs on that wicket. I have always enjoyed my bowling. I don't think I have many options. I try to read the wicket and try some smart options. I dont try to go for wickets. I try to bowl dot balls and let the batters take risks. I think as a batting unit, we fell short. We win as a team. We lose as a team. Don't want to point someone out. The ownership has to be taken by the whole batting unit. I take full ownership. It was obvious. We needed some hits. In cricket, some of those days come. When you try but it doesn't come off. Just play good cricket. I like to keep it simple. Take better calls. Be smart in bowling. Take chances in batting. Play simple cricket with some aggression. As it is a long tournament, couple of wins and we might get into the rhythm.

Digvesh Rathi, Player of the Match said,

I am really enjoying it. My bowling is such that I like to take wickets. I saw Sunil Narine bowl and since then I like bowling. I want to make my mindset more attacking like Sunil Narine. Like he takes pressure for the team.