Decision of Hardik Pandya to refuse a single was surprising during MI vs LSG match. Barely a few minutes ago, Mumbai Indian had taken the major call to retire Tilak Varma to call Santner in the middle. Akash Ambani who is owner of MI team was in disbelief when Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya turned down a single to Mitchell Santner in the last over of the match against LSG. Mumbai Indians needed 14 runs off 4 balls then. A single would have brought it down to 13 off 3. Pandya failed to hit sixes in the next balls and done hesitantly a single off the penultimate ball when the match was already finished. He even threw his bat in anger after realizing the match had slipped out of grip.
In the last over MI was need 22 runs. Hardik started the over by hitting low full toss of Avesh Khan for a six over extra cover. Mumbai Indians needed boundaries and Hardik felt he was the best man to do it so he took it upon himself and taken back a single to Santner off the third ball of the over. Santner was nearly reached the striker’s end when Pandya sent back to him. The cameras focused to the hospitality where Akash Ambani was sitting, who did not give an over-the-top reaction, but his quirks showed that the turn of events surprised him. MI lost the match by 12 runs. By then Akash Ambani had entered the MI dugout to cheers up his team. The owner of MI shook hands and congratulated the downcast MI Players.
Also Read : https://sportslila.com/ipl-2025-spinner-digvesh-rathi-courts-controversy-again-with-fiery-send-off-against-mi/
