Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 game between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Mumbai Indians (MI) is crucial for the captains of both sides, Hardik Pandya and Rishabh Pant. Pant hasn’t been upto the mark in both leadership and batting department, while Hardik will have to prove himself as skipper after failing to be impactful in the last season. For the vital game, MI have dropped their star opener Rohit Sharma and in the 37-year-old’s place, the five-time champion side has handed the opportunity to Will Jacks to be the opening ally of Ryan Rickelton. Skipper Hardik said at the toss that Rohit couldn’t make it to the playing XI as the veteran was hit on his knee.
During the match, Rohit was seen on the field during the time-out session. In a clip going viral on social media, the former MI captain can be seen advising Pandya and vice-captain Suryakumar Yadav. However, Pandya can be seen turning his back towards the veteran to speak to any other teammate or MI supporting staff. Rohit, who guided MI to five trophies, has looked completely out of rhythm in this competition. He has scored only 21 runs in three outings at a horrendous average of 7.00. Noting his form, his critics have gone all guns blazing against him.
MI keep chase on after recovering from the poor start
Chasing a mammoth target of 204 runs, MI lost their openers Jacks and Rickelton within the first few balls of the innings. In the crunch situation, Naman Dhir and Suryakumar Yadav are standing at the crease. Dhir has looked exceptional with his bat thus far, producing some exquisite strokes.
Earlier, Lucknow batted first after losing the toss and posted the colossal score on the board. Lucknow saw the plucky efforts of their openers Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram, who scored half-centuries from their bats respectively. However, Pant again failed to turn up against bowlers and concluded his innings after hoarding only two runs off six balls.
