Courtesy: BCCI/IPL
Mahela Jayawardene, the head coach of Mumbai Indians (MI), addressed the press conference after his team suffered a tough loss by 12 runs against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow despite being in good position to chase down a 204-run target at one stage. The 47-year-old admitted that the loss is a setback for them since they made mistakes especially with the ball, and not being smart enough in certain situations.
Notably, in the high-scoring contest against LSG in Lucknow, MI bowlers conceded 204 runs despite their captain Hardik Pandya taking his first five-wicket haul in T20 cricket. Mitchell Marsh (60 off 31) provided a power-packed start to LSG in the powerplay before his opening partner Aiden Markram (53 off 38) controlled the middle overs, while the likes of Ayush Badoni and David Miller provided the finishing touches to their innings.
In the run chase, MI lost their overseas opening duo of Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks cheaply before Naman Dhir brought them into the match with an innings of 46 runs in 24 balls, and until Suryakumar Yadav (67 off 43) was at the crease, they were still firmly in the contest. But a lacklustre innings of 25 runs in 23 balls from Tilak Varma, who was retired out by MI team management along with the inability of Hardik Pandya to clear the ropes with 16 runs needed off the last five balls, sealed the fate of MI against LSG in the contest.
I put it down to us not being smart enough in certain situations: Mahela Jayawardene on LSG loss
In his post-match remarks, Mahela Jayawardene was critical of the performance of the MI players, and said, “I have to be honest, it is a setback. We probably made quite a few mistakes especially with the ball as well, we should have probably restricted them maybe 15-20 runs less and at the same time batting-wise we had the momentum even after losing early wickets.”
The MI head coach also called out the game smarts of his players, and the lack of execution after LSG defeated them by a narrow margin. He said, “I put it down to us not being smart enough in certain situations and not being able to execute what needed to be executed. So we just need to go back. We had three away games, one home game so we'd love to win away matches but now it's up to us to really get our points on the board and then push through.
