After Mumbai Indians’ win over Punjab Kings, all-rounder Shardul Thakur spoke about the team’s captaincy situation and why Hardik Pandya’s absence has mattered. Thakur said Hardik is nursing an injury, but he expects the regular skipper to return for Mumbai’s next match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday.
Hardik has been unavailable since the game versus arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings, while Suryakumar Yadav also missed the Punjab Kings match after the birth of his child. With Jasprit Bumrah taking over the leadership role for the first time in the season, Mumbai delivered a clinical performance for what turned out to be their fourth victory of the campaign.
Quick facts
At a glance
- Shardul Thakur said Hardik Pandya is injured and did not travel for two games.
- Thakur expects Hardik to return for Mumbai’s match against Kolkata Knight Riders next Wednesday.
- Suryakumar Yadav missed the Punjab Kings game due to the birth of his child.
- Jasprit Bumrah captained Mumbai for the first time in this stretch.
- Mumbai’s win featured Shardul’s four-wicket haul and Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 75.
- Punjab Kings were set a target of 200/8 and finished short in the chase.
- Tilak and Will Jacks added a decisive 56-run partnership as Mumbai won with a ball to spare.
In the post-match press conference, Thakur explained the timeline clearly. He said Hardik’s injury prevented him from making the trip for a couple of matches, and although Hardik went to Raipur for the fixture against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on May 10, he was unable to play.
Thakur added that Hardik is now training in Mumbai and that his expectation is for him to be in Kolkata to take on KKR. He also noted that players like Hardik are always missed when they aren’t available, pointing to how the team’s quality changes when a key figure is absent.
When quizzed about rumours suggesting Hardik could be moved to another franchise, Thakur dismissed the noise. He said social media chatter keeps running continuously, that some claims are correct while others are not, and that the final decision rests with the team management.
Hardik’s numbers and the praise for Tilak
Thakur also addressed the broader conversation around Hardik’s current form, describing his season as mediocre in both the captaincy and the batting department. He said Mumbai’s standings have not matched the squad’s star power, and that Hardik has managed 146 runs from eight innings at an average of 20.85. Thakur further pointed out Hardik’s strike rate has been above 136, with a highest score of 40.
On bowling contribution, Thakur noted that Hardik has taken only four wickets at an average of 61.50, while his economy has hovered close to 12. Against that backdrop, the all-rounder still offered credit where it was due, especially to Tilak Varma.
Thakur praised Tilak for his 75 not out off 33 balls, which he said steered Mumbai to victory. He described Tilak’s approach as selecting the right areas and choosing the correct balls to attack, and mentioned that Ryan Rickelton provided strong support with his own big hitting.
Tilak’s surge, Thakur added, reflected how the match swung too often. He said there were “too many ups and downs” during the contest, explaining that Mumbai had a strong start in the powerplay, but the latter part of it and the early middle overs saw runs come more easily than expected.
According to Thakur, Mumbai later steadied things and then found momentum again, including in the death overs. He also described how the batting tempo kept shifting—starting well in the powerplay, struggling at intervals, and then building pace—while stressing that maintaining a consistent rhythm is hard when the match keeps changing gears.
From a bowling perspective, Thakur said it becomes especially difficult to keep responding because a sudden shift in tempo forces bowlers to think about their “shut down” options. He added that once wickets start falling, the mindset changes again, and the focus becomes hunting for more dismissals.
He continued by saying there were frequent switches in the game, requiring bowlers to adjust their mindset repeatedly. For batters, he framed it as a patience contest: waiting for loose deliveries and then converting when the opportunity appears.
Thakur also said Mumbai ended up conceding 20 runs more than they had intended. Looking at leadership comparisons, he discussed having played under Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and now Bumrah, saying they are all different to evaluate as captains.
Thakur said there is no single cricket “mantra” that guarantees success. He argued that captains need to be proactive, and that it is ultimately the players who make a captain successful—highlighting that some games have gone Mumbai’s way and others have not, but that all three leaders have brought experience and match-winning impact for the side and Team India.
How the match unfolded
Turning to the game itself, Mumbai chose to bowl first after winning the toss. Punjab Kings began positively with a 50-run opening stand between Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh. Arya made 22 off 17 balls, striking four boundaries, while Prabhsimran had to work through his tempo, eventually compiling 57 from 32 balls with six fours and four sixes.
Prabhsimran’s effort included a 57-run partnership with Cooper Connolly, who made 21. After Punjab were 107/1, the innings tilted quickly as they slipped to 140/7, losing wickets in clusters.
Punjab Kings then regained momentum through quick cameos. Azmatullah Omarzai contributed 38 off 17 balls with two fours and four sixes, Vishnu Vinod finished unbeaten on 15, and Xavier Bartlett added 18 not out. Those contributions helped PBKS reach a competitive 200/8 in their 20 overs.
For Mumbai, Shardul Thakur was the standout bowler with figures of 4/39, while Deepak Chahar took 2/36. Chasing 201, Ryan Rickelton struck immediately, making 48 off 23 balls with four fours and four sixes, and he shared a 61-run stand with Rohit Sharma.
Rohit made 25 off 26 balls and struck two sixes in that spell of momentum. However, Punjab Kings managed to break the rhythm with wickets at regular intervals, leaving Mumbai at 149/4 in the 17th over with the match appearing fairly balanced.
Then Tilak Varma took control. He finished unbeaten on 75 from 33 balls, smashing six fours and six sixes, and combined with Will Jacks—who made 25 not out off only 10 balls, featuring two fours and two sixes—to forge a match-turning 56-run partnership.
That stand carried Mumbai over the line with a ball to spare, with the chase ending successfully before the full quota of deliveries. For PBKS, Azmatullah Omarzai (2/36 in four overs), Yuzvendra Chahal (1/32 in four overs) and Arshdeep Singh (0/29 in four overs) bowled well, but their foreign fast options, Marco Jansen (1/55) and Xavier Bartlett (0/53), conceded runs elsewhere in the innings.
Points table scenario
With the result, Mumbai Indians sit eighth in the points table with four wins and eight losses, collecting eight points. Punjab Kings remain inside the top four with six wins and five losses, plus one no result, giving them 13 points.
The standings also hinge on the next round of matches. If Chennai Super Kings beat Lucknow Super Giants on Friday, the impact on the race for positions will be felt across the table.
