MI vs RCB IPL 2025: Three mistakes made by Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians slumped to their fourth defeat in the 2025 Indian Premier League as they were upstaged at home by Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium. The two sides played out a run fest which went down to the wire, and ultimately RCB managed to win by 12 runs. RCB made a brillaint start to thier innings and kept going hard right throughout thier innings. 

A combined batting effort ensured that they set a daunting target of 222 for Mumbai Indians on a fairly good batting track. In reply, Mumbai, once again, couldn't start well as they had lost two wickets early in the powerplay. Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma brought life back into the game in the latter half of their innings but their efforts didn't prove enough in the end.

MI skipper Hardik Pandya in the post-game presentation reminisced about that clash as a close contest, where his side fell short only by two hits in the end. The game did come down to that in theory, but in reality, Mumbai fell short all through the game. 

Here are three mistakes that Mumbai made in the IPL 2025 clash against RCB: 

1. Slow start in powerplay 

Mumbai Indians managed to score 54 runs in the powerplay, which is a decent performance but when you are chasing more than 220, it could be a bit under par. What was worse was that MI lost both their openers as well. Rohit Sharma had another lean game for the franchise, while Ryan Rickelton couldn’t get going, either. Josh Hazlewood delivered figures of 1/6 in the powerplay in his two overs. 

In contrast, Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to score 73 in their powerplay while losing just one wicket. Phil Salt was out early, but both Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal upped the ante with some eye-catching strokes, making the most of the field restrictions. Secondly, this wasn’t a one-off for Mumbai Indians, who have been losing early wickets in most games and thereby not maximizing the powerplay. 

2. Under bowling the spinners

Mumbai Indians bowled just five overs of spin in their innings, while RCB maxed out with Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma. Mitchell Santner was expensive, once again, while Vignesh Puttur was given just one over, despite picking up a wicket. Moreover, Mumbai didn’t bowl a single over of spin post the 14th over, which made it easier for Jitesh Sharma and Rajat Patidar to line up the pacers. With no pace variation, the batters were used to a tempo and managed to score freely against Trent Boult and Hardik Pandya, with the former registering his most expensive IPL spell. 

Another issue with the MI spinners was the speed at which they bowled. Krunal and Suyash bowled quick, consistently hitting over 100 kmph. Mumbai’s bowlers didn’t deliver a single ball over 100 clicks. On an easy batting surface like Wankhede, it was necessary to dart the ball from time to time, as the more loopy deliveries were being dispatched for six. 

3. Planning Jasprit Bumrah’s overs better

It is no secret that Jasprit Bumrah is a cut above the rest at this moment in world cricket. His overs in T20 cricket are almost like a cheat code, and Mumbai Indians have the luxury of planning their overs around him. Yesterday, Bumrah conceded 29 in his four overs, while the other bowlers went for plenty of runs. 

A small strategy goof-up from MI in hindsight was reserving two of Bumrah’s overs for the death. He bowled the 18th and the 20th, but by that moment the damage was already done as Jitesh Sharma and Rajat Patidar had already settled. Bumrah could have instead been used in that phase when Jitesh Sharma walked out to bat, to try and get a quick wicket or stifle the run scoring.