IPL 2025, GT vs MI Live Score: Hardik returns, Vignesh dropped; Mumbai Indians win toss, opt to bowl vs Gujarat Titans
IPL 2025, GT vs MI Live Score, Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians: It’s a match that some may call the Hardik Pandya Derby, as the Mumbai Indians captain won the toss and opted to bowl in his first match of the IPL 2025 season, against his former team, the Gujarat Titans. One he captained all the way to the trophy in 2022, to another final in 2023, before making the headline move back to MI in 2024. What fireworks does he have in store in 2025?...Read More
Whatever it is, this subplot comes only in the larger scheme of two teams looking to get on the board after a disappointing start to their respective seasons. Both managed to avoid taking a heavy loss, but will know that there is much room for improvement in how they go about their work. GT’s bowling was punished by Shreyas Iyer and the Punjab Kings, while Mumbai Indians’ star-studded batting floundered as it was choked to a small total at Chepauk against Chennai Super Kings. One of these two teams will be looking to flip the script as the IPL heads to the home of Bollywood, and the Wankhede prepares to host its first game of the year.
For MI, the chance to play at home will also provide an opportunity to get their season off to a strong start. It has been a very quiet period over the last four years for MI, failing to have a winning season in any of them and only qualifying for the playoffs in one. This is not a team accustomed to long spells without tasting success, and this means they will be hungry to show just what makes this organisation five-time champions.
They boast of plenty of depth and star quality up and down the lineup, but the addition of Hardik Pandya back into this equation will provide them a key balancing factor, and another true Indian superstar to hang their hat on. A team can never have a problem of too much, and with names such as Hardik, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma in their batting, they shouldn’t — but names on paper can only do so much, and now they need performances on the field. In key focus will be Rohit, who has faced plenty of criticism in the recent past for his poor showings in the IPL, exacerbated by a four-ball duck against CSK. Now making this team as a batter alone, subbed out as the impact player, Rohit needs to earn his stay.
GT, meanwhile, need to figure out how to plug the gaps in their team, and quick. It was their pre-tournament on-paper weaknesses that got to them against PBKS: a bowling unit capable of taking wickets, but sometimes too expensive. A batting group that is top-heavy and has a large gap to fill in the middle order. Some changes might need to be personnel — Glenn Phillips fits like a glove at number four but wasn’t played — but others have to do with performance.
Mohammed Siraj can’t go wicketless and also concede 54 runs in his spell. Kagiso Rabada needs to return to the form he showed in Delhi, Prasidh Krishna needs to make that step up as a more experienced bowler, and Rashid Khan needs to find his mojo again as a banker spin option. As a bowling unit, this team is too good to be conceding 243 in a match, and when it comes to batting, they need to figure out how to convert after their top three has given them a start which sees them at 199-2. That is not a score you should lose a game from, and players with the experience and nous of Jos Buttler and Shubman Gill will know this.
GT and MI alike have much, much better cricket up their sleeves than they managed to produce in their opening games, and neither should be pleased at the prospect of starting this season with two losses. As much as anything, fight and a desire to put it on the line will be expected.
Whatever it is, this subplot comes only in the larger scheme of two teams looking to get on the board after a disappointing start to their respective seasons. Both managed to avoid taking a heavy loss, but will know that there is much room for improvement in how they go about their work. GT’s bowling was punished by Shreyas Iyer and the Punjab Kings, while Mumbai Indians’ star-studded batting floundered as it was choked to a small total at Chepauk against Chennai Super Kings. One of these two teams will be looking to flip the script as the IPL heads to the home of Bollywood, and the Wankhede prepares to host its first game of the year.
For MI, the chance to play at home will also provide an opportunity to get their season off to a strong start. It has been a very quiet period over the last four years for MI, failing to have a winning season in any of them and only qualifying for the playoffs in one. This is not a team accustomed to long spells without tasting success, and this means they will be hungry to show just what makes this organisation five-time champions.
They boast of plenty of depth and star quality up and down the lineup, but the addition of Hardik Pandya back into this equation will provide them a key balancing factor, and another true Indian superstar to hang their hat on. A team can never have a problem of too much, and with names such as Hardik, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma in their batting, they shouldn’t — but names on paper can only do so much, and now they need performances on the field. In key focus will be Rohit, who has faced plenty of criticism in the recent past for his poor showings in the IPL, exacerbated by a four-ball duck against CSK. Now making this team as a batter alone, subbed out as the impact player, Rohit needs to earn his stay.
GT, meanwhile, need to figure out how to plug the gaps in their team, and quick. It was their pre-tournament on-paper weaknesses that got to them against PBKS: a bowling unit capable of taking wickets, but sometimes too expensive. A batting group that is top-heavy and has a large gap to fill in the middle order. Some changes might need to be personnel — Glenn Phillips fits like a glove at number four but wasn’t played — but others have to do with performance.
Mohammed Siraj can’t go wicketless and also concede 54 runs in his spell. Kagiso Rabada needs to return to the form he showed in Delhi, Prasidh Krishna needs to make that step up as a more experienced bowler, and Rashid Khan needs to find his mojo again as a banker spin option. As a bowling unit, this team is too good to be conceding 243 in a match, and when it comes to batting, they need to figure out how to convert after their top three has given them a start which sees them at 199-2. That is not a score you should lose a game from, and players with the experience and nous of Jos Buttler and Shubman Gill will know this.
GT and MI alike have much, much better cricket up their sleeves than they managed to produce in their opening games, and neither should be pleased at the prospect of starting this season with two losses. As much as anything, fight and a desire to put it on the line will be expected.
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