Lucknow Super Giants prevailed in a thrilling contest against Mumbai Indians, sealing Match 16 of the IPL 2025 season in Lucknow by 12 runs. The match was marred by the decision to retire out Tilak Varma in the 19th over of the match during the run chase. The decision backfired as MI failed to win the contest, suffering their 3rd loss of the season from 4 matches. MI have dropped to 7th in the standings, whereas LSG, who picked up their 2nd win in 4 games, moved to sixth.

LSG posted a challenging score of 203/8 in 20 overs at their home ground, riding on fifties from Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram. The likes of Ayush Badoni (30) and David Miller (27) also chipped in with impressive cameos. For MI, Hardik Pandya shone with a fifer. He became the 1st captain with a five-wicket haul in the IPL. Pandya also became the 2nd bowler to take a fifer against LSG and overall the 7th bowler for MI to do so.

In response, MI lost both their openers in the form of Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks early on (17/2). Thereafter, Naman Dhir and Suryakumar Yadav added 69 runs. Alongside Varma, another 66 runs were added. Suryakumar, who was key for MI, got dismissed in a crucial phase of the contest. He ended up with 67 runs from 43 balls. MI were left with work to do, and the last two overs saw them fail to get any sort of impetus as they got restricted to 191/5.  Despite Pandya launching a six off the 1st ball in the final over, MI didn’t get going and surrendered. Shardul Thakur and Avesh Khan deserve plaudits for bowling the last 2 overs.

Here are three heroes and zeroes from the LSG-MI contest.

Heroes

Mitchell Marsh: LSG scored 69 runs in the power play overs, and Marsh hammered 60 of those runs from 30 balls. Marsh, who smacked Ashwani Kumar for 22 runs in the sixth over, clocked a 27-ball fifty. Marsh looked in good touch and handed his side the base with Markram watching on from the other end in a 76-run stand. Marsh has been amongst the runs for LSG, and this was his 3rd fifty of the season. The Aussie international hit nine fours and two sixes in his knock and struck at 193.55. He owns 184 runs this season at 46. Marsh slammed his 6th IPL fifty. Overall in T20s, he has 29 fifties with over 4600 runs scored from 181 innings.

Aiden Markram: One of the reasons why LSG got past 200 was the impact made by LSG opener Markram. He stood at one end and saw Marsh dictate the show early on in LSG’s innings. Once Marsh departed, LSG suffered two dismissals in the form of Nicholas Pooran and Rishabh Pant. The South African batter found Badoni joining him and the two added a quality 51-run stand to steady LSG’s ship and hand them a platform to score big runs in the final overs. Markram reached his fifty in the 17th over and then perished in the following over. His 53 came from 38 balls. He hit 4 sixes and 2 fours. This was his 6th IPL fifty. He now owns 1092 runs in the IPL at 29-plus. Markram also went past 4500 T20 runs. He registered his 28th fifty.

Digvesh singh rathi: The uncapped Indian spinner was magnificent for LSG, bowling two magical overs in the middle overs phase. Rathi, who was awarded the Man Of the Match, claimed 1/21 from his 4 overs. He took the key wicket in his 2nd over, dismissing Dhir, who smashed 46 and was part of a 69-run stand. He conceded three runs in that over. His next over also produced just 2 runs. He was brought back in the 18th over, where he gave away 11 runs. Notably, he bowled 14 balls in total to Varma and Suryakumar, conceding just six runs. In the match, he was hit for one 4 only. He bowled 8 dot balls.

Zeroes

Tilak Varma: The Indian cricketer became the 4th batter in IPL history to be retired out. Varma was struggling in the middle and was batting on 25 runs from 23 balls when the decision was made. There was no intent and intensity from Varma in the chase as he suffered. Despite adding a fifty-plus stand with Suryakumar, it was the latter who kept MI in the hunt and scored maximum runs in the partnership. After the match, skipper Pandya defended the team’s decision to retire Varma out. “It was obvious that we needed some hits, and he was not getting… in cricket, one of those days comes when you really try, but it does not happen. I think the decision speaks for itself why we did it.”

Mitchell Santner: Not a productive day for the Kiwi international. With the ball, Santner struggled to get going. He conceded 46 runs from his 4 overs. He conceded over 11 runs an over. He was smashed for 7 fours and a six. He bowled only 5 dot balls. Santner was introduced in the 5th over and he was smashed for two fours by Marsh. In the 8th over, Pooran hit him for a six and a four. In his final over, Badoni slammed him for 3 successive 4s. Santner, who came on for Varma during the chase, couldn’t make an impact. He scored two runs from the 1st ball he faced and then only got a chance to bat in the final ball of the 20th over. He faced a dot, but before that, LSG’s win was already sealed.

Rishabh pant: A 4th straight failure for the LSG captain with the bat was a sorry sight. He scored two runs from six balls versus MI. Pant came in when his side was 91/2 and had the chance to score quality runs. However, he didn’t last long. He was dismissed in the 11th over with a length ball from Pandya. Pant scored 0, 15 and 2 before this contest. In 4 IPL games, he has 19 runs from 32 balls at 4.75.