Hardik left shellshocked as brother Krunal crushes his confidence in final over

It is another Indian Premier League season, and looks like Hardik Pandya’s second campaign as a Mumbai Indians captain is not going according to plan at all.

The all-rounder returned to MI ahead of last season in a controversial transfer, and immediately replaced Rohit Sharma as skipper. MI were in 2024, and it looks like that form has seeped into IPL 2025 too, as not even the return of Jasprit Bumrah could save them on Monday.

In what can be considered as the El Clasico of IPL, RCB raced to a massive total of 221/5 in 20 overs, courtesy of some powerpacked batting from Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma.

Chasing 222 runs, it looked MI were going to crumble to an easy defeat as they fell to 99/4 in 11.6 overs, with the departure of star batter Suryakumar Yadav (28). Openers Rohit Sharma (17) and Ryan Rickelton (17) also failed after strong starts. Meanwhile, Will Jacks (22), batting at No. 3, fell to Krunal Pandya.

MI’s actual batting began with the introduction of Tilak Varma, who then set up a partnership with skipper Hardik.

After Suryakumar lost his wicket in the final delivery of the 12th over, the MI onslaught began in the 13th. In the second delivery of the 13th over, Tilak slog swept Suyash Sharma for a six, and then hammered a four in the next ball. The over leaked 17 runs in total as Tilak also smacked a four in the fifth delivery.

Hardik Pandya joins the party

Then in the 14th over, Hardik joined the party after being given strike in the second ball. He began with a smashing six over deep midwicket against Josh Hazlewood, and then followed it up with a four. He wasn’t stopping there and continued MI’s counter-attack on the Aussie pacer, and then clobbered him for a six over wide long-off. In the fifth delivery of the 14th over, Hardik got another four and MI got 39 runs from the 13th and 14th overs, with the MI skipper at 20 off five balls. Meanwhile, Tilak was at 31 off 16 balls.

Patidar sent Krunal in the 15th over, hoping that spin would break the partnership. But Hardik had other plans and took on Krunal in the second delivery, smacking him for a six and got to 26 off six balls. Then he made it back-to-back sixes and the over saw Krunal concede 19 runs in total.

Fast forward to the 17th over, Tilak got his half-century and also smacked a six, as MI reached 181/4, needing 41 runs off 18 balls.

Patidar sent experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 18th over, and it initially looked like MI’s onslaught would continue as Hardik got a double and then a four in the first two balls. Then he took a single in the third ball to give Tilak the strike.

All of a sudden, Bhuvneshwar came up with the party ball, sending a slow delivery, on a short length, wide outside off. Tilak mistimed his shot and it went to sweeper cover, where Salt ran in near the boundary ropes, catching it safely as the India batter departed for 56 off 29 balls. New batter Naman Dhir got a six in the next ball and then Bhuvneshwar responded with a dot.

In the 19th over, Hazlewood came out on top, removing Hardik in the first ball as the MI skipper left for 42 off 15 balls. Mitchell Santner got a six in the second last ball of the over and then took a single to take MI to 203/6.

Krunal Pandya has the last laugh: ‘I feel for him…’

Ahead of the 20th over, MI needed 19 runs off six balls, and Patidar sent Krunal. The spinner began on a dominant note, silencing the MI dugout, who hoped for a different plot. In the first ball, Krunal sent it full, wide outside off, Santner could only direct it to David, who reverse-caught it near the boundary ropes.

Then Krunal struck again in the next ball, as Chahar miscued his shot to deep midwicket, where Salt went to his left and jumped to take a catch near the boundary ropes. Then he threw the ball to the onrushing Tim David, as his momentum carried him past the boundary ropes.

Krunal, then conceded a wide, followed by a single as Naman Dhir retained strike. Dhir smacked him for a four in the fourth delivery, and then fell victim to Krunal’s magic in the fifth delivery, getting caught at fine leg. Krunal ended the match with a dot ball as RCB sealed an epic win, clinching victory at the Wankhede Stadium after a gap of 10 years.

During the final over, the cameras continuously shifted to Hardik, whose expression changed from a smile to one of total dismay. He appeared shellshocked by the end of the match and was rooted sitting on his chair, as MI’s poor form continued. The irony of the situation was that it was his elder brother who cost him the match, after he took MI so close to the finish line.

Speaking after the match, Krunal conceded that he felt for Hardik, as he batted well. He said, “The bond that we (Hardik and I) have, we knew there was only one Pandya that was supposed to win, the love and affection we have for each other is very natural. He (Hardik) batted really well and I feel for him, but we (our team) won and that is most important. When I came onto bowl, Santner was batting and leg side was shorter and the amount of games I played here in the last 10 years, at some point the experience had to come in. As a bowler, sometimes you want to commit and it is important to commit 100 percent and it helps in execution.”