Mumbai Indians crashed out of IPL 2025 following a five-wicket loss against Punjab Kings in the Qualifier 2 clash on Sunday. It was a disappointing end to a campaign that saw MI bounce back from four losses in the first five matches. They qualified fourth for the IPL 2025 playoffs and defeated Gujarat Titans in the IPL Eliminator. However, a brilliant knock from Shreyas Iyer led to a crushing defeat for the Hardik Pandya-led side. Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan blasted MI for their performance and even namedropped Rohit Sharma as well as Hardik in his brutal review of their IPL 2025 journey.

“Bumrah – number 1, Surya – number 1 T20 batter, Rohit Sharma – 5 trophies as captain, Hardik – premier all-rounder, Santner – best left-arm spinner, Trent Boult – highest 1st-over wicket-taker. Despite having so many match-winners, still not able to win the IPL trophy. Mumbai fans must be very disappointed. MI will surely look into things deeply — you don’t get these kinds of match-winners in many T20 teams,” Irfan posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Mumbai Indians knew Shreyas Iyer giving himself time in the middle to bat long was a sign of “danger”, said head coach Mahela Jayawardene after his side failed to execute in the knockout clash against Punjab Kings.

Iyer struck as many as eight sixes and five fours to make 87 not out from only 41 balls to power Punjab Kings into the IPL final for the first time in 11 years.

“He took his time. He knew they would a bit under pressure, so he was taking his time. We knew that was a danger,” Jayawardene told the media after the after wicket loss on Sunday night.

“As long as we didn’t give him that partnership with Nehal (Wadhera), we would have been able to squeeze through because he would have had to go (out to attack) early, not wait that long.” “He got Nehal to do the bulk of the work at that point, so that shows the experience, and he knew he had to take the game deep and he did. We were trying those options with the wickets, but it just didn’t work for us today,” Jayawardene added.

(With PTI inputs)