Mumbai Indians (MI) head coach Mahela Jayawardene was left ruing dropped chances after MI’s defeat against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Qualifier 2 of the IPL 2025 as well. PBKS beat MI by five wickets as they successfully chased down the total with one over to spare, on the back of a remarkable innings from captain Shreyas Iyer of 87* (41) as well.

Iyer and Nehal Wadhera added 84 runs off 47 balls for the fifth wicket as well. MI had a great chance to end the partnership on just 22, but Trent Boult ended up dropping Wadhera on 13 at fine leg, which cost them as well. Following Punjab’s win, Mahela Jayawardene applauded the opposition.

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“Punjab Kings were solid, especially while chasing — and that’s not easy. They executed really well. We made a few blunders, obviously, with those two dropped catches. But that’s how the game goes. We had luck on our side in the previous match, so it balances out. Overall, it was a good game of cricket — and we came up short. It’s as simple as that,” said Jayawardene in the post-match press conference.

However, the MI head coach also revealed the reason behind the underperformance of Hardik Pandya, who conceded 19 runs from two overs and picked one wicket as well.

“Yeah, I think he bowled two good overs, and we probably felt we had other options from that end. We tried Ashwani, who bowled well, and then brought in Bumrah to try and get a breakthrough. The game slipped away from us at that point. We felt our main bowlers could help us pick up wickets — that was really the only way back into the game. The last over was kept for him anyway, in case there was a chance. Sure, there could be a lot of ‘ifs and buts,’ but the truth is, we didn’t play a perfect game — and we paid the price for it,” Mahela Jayawardene concluded.