At the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium, Mumbai Indians’ third IPL 2025 loss came against Lucknow Super Giants. At the 19th over, Tilak Varma, still batting and not out, decided to walk back to the changing room, which surprised everyone.
Tilak Varma Retires Tactical Call: Retire Out
During his innings, Tilak Varma, who replaced Vignesh Puthur as the impact player, was having difficulty starting. Although he hit 25 runs off 23 balls, he seemed out of sync and swung wildly off the middle of the bat. The team elected to tactically rest Varma out as Mumbai sought power-hitters to approach a difficult goal of 204.
This made Varma the fourth player in IPL history to be retired out for deliberate motives. While playing against the same side, LSG, for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2022, Ravichandran Ashwin had established the precedent. Sai Sudharsan of Gujarat Titans and Atharva Taide of Punjab Kings likewise exited in the 2023 year.
LSG Batters Put Great Target
Choosing to bowl first after winning the toss, Mumbai Indians observed a blazing start by LSG. Mitchell Marsh led the charge with a 60-run in the powerplay, well supported by Aiden Markram’s 53 runs. Ayush Badoni also helped LSG put a good total of 203/8 in 20 overs by means of a fast 30. Hardik Pandya stole the show on the bowling for MI with a five-wicket haul despite the defeat.
Mumbai lacks chase
With two rapid dismissals, Mumbai Indians’ chase begun on a shaky tone. With his 46-run knock, Naman Dhir, though, gave the game some momentum; Suryakumar Yadav energized it with a good 67. Though they tried, the middle overs run rate was stifled especially by leg-spinner Diggesh Rathi among the LSG bowlers. Rathi hit a tight spell, claiming a significant wicket and allowing only 21 runs in four overs. MI eventually scored 191/5, eleven runs down.
