May 31,IPL 2025: Captain Hardik Pandya has credited Rohit Sharma, Jonny Bairstow and Jasprit Bumrah for Mumbai Indians reaching Qualifier 2 in IPL 2025. Rohit scored a half-century, while Bairstow gave MI a stormy start. Bumrah bowled economically and took wickets when needed. Due to this, Mumbai defeated Gujarat Titans by 20 runs in the eliminator match played in Mullanpur. After the victory, Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya praised Rohit and Bairstow and said that they laid the foundation for the team’s big score.
Hardik called Bumrah valuable
Hardik said, ‘The way Jonny started for us making his debut and the way Rohit batted, it was great to see. He took his time. When you watch important matches, all these differences help.’ Hardik said that having the services of a master fast bowler like Jasprit Bumrah is a luxury for him at any stage of the game. The captain said, ‘Whenever you feel the game is going too far, call Bumrah to bowl. It’s like the prices of houses in Mumbai – Bumrah is so valuable! I just need to give him the ball.’
Hardik’s statement on Qualifier 2
Hardik said, ‘I looked at the scoreboard and just thought if we could save some extra runs in the end, because I had bowlers, but wanted to give them some extra runs to save. That’s why I gave Bumrah the ball in the 18th over. Bumrah coming and bowling the 18th over was important and this made the difference between runs and balls big.’ Talking about the preparations for Qualifier 2 against Punjab on June 1, Hardik said, ‘It will be very important to recover well from this match.’
Mumbai scored 228 runs while batting first
Talking about the match, Mumbai scored 228 runs for five wickets while batting first on the basis of Rohit Sharma’s 81 runs and Johnny Bairstow’s 47 runs. Rohit hit nine fours and four sixes in his 50-ball innings. At the same time, Bairstow hit four fours and three sixes in his 22-ball innings. Suryakumar scored 33 runs with the help of one four and three sixes in 20 balls. Tilak Verma scored 25 runs with the help of three sixes in 11 balls and captain Hardik Pandya scored an unbeaten 22 runs with the help of three sixes in nine balls. For Gujarat, Prasidh Krishna and Sai Kishore got two wickets each, while Siraj took one wicket.
Gujarat team fell behind by 20 runs
In reply, despite the 80 runs of Sai Sudarshan, who scored the most runs in this season of IPL, Gujarat team could only score 208 runs for six wickets and was out of the tournament. Sudarshan scored 80 runs in 49 balls with the help of 10 fours and one six. Washington Sundar scored 48 runs in 24 balls with the help of five fours and three sixes. Apart from this, no batsman of Gujarat performed well. Trent Bolt took the maximum two wickets from Mumbai. Bumrah gave 27 runs in four overs and took one wicket. Richard Gleeson, Mitchell Santner and Ashwini Kumar also got one wicket each.
Read More: IPL 2025: Mumbai Outplays Gujarat, Faces Punjab Kings Next!
