Mumbai Indians had everything going in their favour in Lucknow on Friday but failed to pull it off in the end.

Lucknow Super Giants continue to have the upper hand over Mumbai in the IPL, having notched their sixth win in seven matches.

Suryakumar Yadav (67 off 43 balls) and Tilak Varma had paced their 204-run chase well and Mumbai needed 29 off the last two overs. But the Super Giants’ Shardul Thakur
and Avesh Khan bowled superbly keeping the batters under check.

While Shardul gave away only seven runs in the penultimate over, Avesh was equally impressive, defending 22 against Hardik Pandya in the 20th as the home team won by 12 runs.

Batters’ struggle

Mumbai Indians were behind the run-rate, but with wickets in hand and big hitters to come, they kept themselves in the chase. But Surya fell at the start of the 17th over and Tilak was retired out as he failed to take off.

Hardik raised hopes with a six off the first ball of the final over but struggled to get going thereafter.

Surya’s batting remained the sole bright spot for Mumbai. He came into IPL 2025 struggling for form but seems to be regaining his stride. A 31-ball 50 had style but not extravagance. He slammed just one six and seven fours when the need of the hour was big hits.

Lucknow’s bowling was good at the death with Man of the Match Digvesh Rathi’s performance (1/21) the most impressive.

Early momentum

Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram made most of the Powerplay overs as the Super Giants put on 76 in an opening partnership before Ayush Badoni and David Miller took them to 203/8.

Put into bat on their home turf, Marsh smashed the Mumbai Indians bowling to give them the upper hand early on. The visitors did try to make a comeback by dismissing Nicholas Pooran and Rishabh Pant cheaply but the late burst took them past the 200-mark.

As the pace bowlers went for runs on the black soil pitch, Hardik finished with a five-wicket haul.

Marsh on fire

It was Marsh who tore the Mumbai Indians bowling to shreds in the Powerplay. He survived a caught-behind chance in the first over but Trent Boult and his teammates didn’t hear it. The opener capitalised, putting on 69 in the Powerplay overs where he hit nine fours and two sixes.

The Australian was in ominous form hoicking massive sixes. He dismissed Boult off the front foot and then pulled and cut Mitchell Santner before meddling with Ashwani Kumar’s discipline. The left-arm seamer had got four wickets against KKR in their last match but Marsh showed him no mercy this time.

Ashwani got a back-of-length ball to jag back and take Marsh by surprise as it brushed his hands. He failed to maintain his line and length after having gone for just three in his first over.

He also hit boundaries off Deepak Chahar on both sides of the wicket. The slow nature of the wicket made it easier for Marsh as he could easily come down the wicket to the pacers.

The introduction of left-arm wrist spinner Vignesh Puthur accounted for Marsh before a slower bouncer from Hardik reduced the in-form Pooran’s promising start to a cameo. Pant’s lack of form continued as he too fell victim to Hardik’s slower bouncer.

Rohit injured

Mumbai were without Rohit Sharma who was ruled out with injury. Hardik said at the toss that Rohit was hit on the knee before the game and was forced to sit out.