New Delhi: An error in execution led to Mumbai Indians’ defeat against Gujarat Titans despite being on top in their IPL 2025 match, head coach Mahela Jayawardene has said.
The three-wicket loss (via DLS method) on Tuesday meant Mumbai are fourth with 14 points from 12 matches and must win their remaining two league stage matches to qualify for the play-offs.
Gujarat chased down their revised target of 147 runs in the last ball of the rain-interrupted match to go on top of the stndings.
“I think it sums it up. It is margins, but I probably, both teams made quite a few mistakes out there in the middle and we probably made more than them,” Jayawardene said after the match.
“We were in a situation when we were (having) five games, four losses (and) one win. From that point onwards, we were (in a) must-win (situation in) pretty much every game. We had a really good run. The tournament’s tough and one good thing is we’re playing teams which is in that bunch, so we probably control our own destiny.
“We were probably 30 runs short on that wicket and the guys bowled really well, created a lot of opportunities, fielded really well (and) fought for everything so that’s good signs and we’ll treat every game as a playoff game for us now,” he added.
Mumbai dropped catches and bowled three no-balls, including one by Deep Chahar in the last over, helping Gujarat win. Jayawardene pointed out MI lost control of the game despite being in control and not because of Chahar.
“I could have bowled (Will Jacks) Jacksy, Karn Sharma, or whoever (was) left (with) overs, but I think Deepak did that job for us in the first few games as well. He was good, main bowler. (It) could have gone (our way),” he said.
“It’s easy for you to ask me that question and for me to say, yeah, maybe Hardik. (But he had) gone for three sixes, (then) you would have asked me why didn’t you bowl Deepa so I don’t like to go to that.
“It wasn’t the decision, it was the execution and that’s not where we lost the game. My thinking is (that) we lost the game when we had control of it and that was disappointing,” he added.
Mahela Jayawardene pointed out that MI lost control of the game against GT despite being in control Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
