On Monday, April 7, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025’s Match 20 pitted the Mumbai Indians (MI) against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Wankhede Stadium. The visitors defeated a raging Mumbai squad by 12 runs in a fiercely contested match.
After losing Phil Salt (4 off 2) in the opening over, RCB could not get off to a strong start. But Virat Kohli (67 off 42) and Devdutt Padikkal (37 off 22) joined forces to score 91 runs. Jitesh Sharma added the final touches with a blistering 40* off 19 balls, while Rajat Patidar played a captain’s knock of 64 runs off 32 balls. In their allocated 20 overs, RCB scored 221/5.
The impact substitute Rohit Sharma (17 off 9) was out in the second over, giving the Mumbai Indians a blow after they had looked promising early on. In the early half of the chase, the innings lacked the necessary momentum and was stalling. However, it was brought to life by Hardik Pandya (42 off 15) and Tilak Varma (56 off 29), who gave the home team a very real chance to win from a position of certain defeat. RCB was able to rally and win the match by 12 runs thanks to wickets in the very end.
Talking Points
1. The groundwork for a high score is laid by Kohli and Patidar’s fifties.
Padikkal and Kohli targeted the Mumbai spinners to build momentum after Salt was removed in the opening over. The two continued, and the bowlers were not spared. At 73/1, they concluded the powerplay. Soon after, Kohli reached his fifty in 29 balls. The captain joined Kohli after Padikkal left, and the two of them scored 48 runs in 31 balls.
Padikkal attacked the spinners with all of his might. He needed just 25 balls to reach his half-century. Patidar carried on in the same manner when Kohli was removed, laying the groundwork for a significant score.
2. Bumrah’s comeback leaves him without a wicket
The inclusion or return of Jasprit Bumrah in an XI was the most eagerly awaited news among India and Mumbai Indians supporters. Following the January Sydney Test, the renowned bowler finally made his eagerly anticipated return. In the fourth over of the innings, Bumrah entered the attack. Kohli made a major statement by smashing him for a six over deep midwicket from his second delivery.
Bumrah did not lose his physique at any point, but he also did not appear to be his powerful, typical self. He did have a chance to take wickets, but sadly, he was not fortunate. He finished with statistics of 0/29 after scoring 10, 5, 6, and 8 runs in his four overs.
3. MI nearly wins thanks to the Hardik and Tilak pairing.
The Mumbai Indians needed 138 runs from the final 10 overs, and their pursuit was at a standstill halfway through the second innings. Despite receiving a few lives, Suryakumar Yadav was unable to capitalise on it and raise the stakes. The MI needed 123 runs off 48 balls when Hardik and Tilak joined forces. It was followed by a great storm.
The pair, Hardik in particular, opened the innings with sixes and quickly rallied the club. Tilak maintained the momentum when Hardik started to slow down a little, and they combined for an incredible 89 runs off just 34 balls. Tilak was removed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar when 34 was required off 16 balls, while Hardik was soon defeated by Josh Hazlewood. Ultimately, MI was unable to cross the queue.
Who Said What?
Hardik Pandya, Mumbai Indians Skipper
It was a run-fest. The wicket was really good. I was just talking about that to myself. We fell short with two hits, don’t know what to say. The way the wicket was, the bowlers did not really have much space to hide. It came down to execution. You can stop the batters, but I don’t want to be harsh on the bowlers. It was a tough track, not much options.
5-10, maybe 12 runs I can say (we conceded more). The original skeleton of our team, Naman was batting down the order. In the last game, Ro (Rohit) was unavailable, so someone had to be pushed up. He has that multi-dimensional game. Once Ro was back, we knew Naman would have to come down.
Tilak was fantastic. A lot of things happened in the last game, people made a lot of things. They did not know he had a nasty hit the previous day. Because of the finger he had, the coach felt it was a better option if someone fresh could come in (and do it). But today he was fantastic. In this sort of a game, powerplays are crucial. Couple of overs, we were not able to get (enough runs) in the middle and that pushed us back. They executed well at the death and we could not play it well.
Rajat Patidar, Royal Challengers Bengaluru Skipper and Player of the Match
It was a really amazing match. It was very hard. The way the bowlers have shown their courage, it was amazing to watch. This award goes to the bowling unit. It is not easy to stop any team, especially at this ground, and the way they have done it, was incredible. The way the fast bowlers executed their plans was amazing. The way KP (Krunal Pandya) bowled that last over, it was not easy and the way he bowled was amazing. The way he has shown the courage was fantastic.
It was pretty clear (at the second time-out) that we had to take the game as much deep as we can, and then we can use one over of KP at the last. The wicket was really amazing to bat on. Typical Mumbai wicket, and the ball was coming nicely onto the bat with bounce. (On when they decided to cut loose with the bat) After the over of Hardik, I decided I had to go all-out and not worry about the wicket. I was just trying to impact the game and put pressure on the bowlers.
India
