IPL 2025, LSG vs MI: Hardik's selfish act denied MI a win in Lucknow
MI suffered their third loss of the season as LSG beat them by 12 runs
 "IPL 2025, LSG vs MI: Hardik's selfish act denied MI a win in Lucknow")
In what could be one of the greatest days in his cricketing career, Hardik Pandya ended up becoming the unwanted villain for Mumbai Indians as his act in the final over cost MI their third loss of the season. Hardik, who had a great day with the ball by picking 5 for 36 and becoming the first ever IPL skipper to take a five-wicket haul, came out to bat against LSG on Friday after Suryakumar Yadav’s wicket. He took the chase till the final over with MI needing 22 runs off 6 balls. IPL 2025 Match 18: PBKS vs RR full scorecard | Playing 11 | Mullanpur Stadium stats | PBKS vs RR live score Check CSK vs DC live score, match commentary and updates here Check IPL 2025 Match 17 - CSK vs DC - full scorecard here
Hardik hit a six off the first ball and took a double on the next as the required scenario was reduced to 14 off 4. However, on the third ball of the over, Hardik played the ball to backward square leg but instead of going for a single and giving Santner the strike, he decided to stay and finish the game on his own. Hardik then missed the chance to score on the next ball as MI was left with the impossible task of 14 off 2 to win. He took a single on the fifth ball, but the match was long gone by then as LSG secured a thrilling 12-run win.
Tilak Varma retired out
In the 19th over, after failing to find any boundary off the first five balls, Pandya had a chat with Tilak Varma, who was struggling to get going and was batting on 25 off 23 balls. After the chat, Tilak got himself retired out to allow Mitchell Santner—who is known to hit big shots in these kinds of situations—to come out and bat.
However, Pandya’s refusal to allow Santner to get on strike will now raise eyebrows. If he was going to take the final over on himself, was there any need to allow Tilak to get retired out?
Notably, Tilak is now the fourth batter in IPL history to be deemed retired out.
Players who retired out in IPL:
| Player | Team | Opponent | Venue | Year |
| R Ashwin | Rajasthan Royals | Lucknow Super Giants | Mumbai | 2022 |
| Atharva Taide | Punjab Kings | Delhi Capitals | Dharamshala | 2023 |
| Sai Sudharsan | Gujarat Titans | Mumbai Indians | Ahmedabad | 2023 |
| Tilak Varma | Mumbai Indians | Lucknow Super Giants | Lucknow | 2025 |
Pandya after the match
In the post-match presentation, Hardik Pandya admitted his team fell short, particularly with the bat, and emphasised the need for collective accountability.
“If we have to be honest, we gave away 10–15 runs on that wicket,” Hardik said, pointing to fielding lapses. Despite his personal success with the ball—claiming a five-wicket haul—he remained humble, stating, “I don’t try to go for wickets. I try to bowl dot balls and let the batters take risks.”
Addressing the batting failure, Pandya acknowledged, “As a batting unit, we fell short. We win as a team, we lose as a team. I take full ownership.”
On Tilak Varma being retired out, he noted, “It was obvious. We needed some hits.”
Looking ahead, Hardik stressed the importance of staying calm and smart: “Play simple cricket with some aggression. It’s a long tournament—couple of wins and we might get into the rhythm.”