The Punjab Kings (PBKS) emerged victorious in the game against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in Jaipur on Monday night, thereby fixing their place in the top two. The Mumbai franchise will remain fourth and play the Eliminator on Friday, May 30 after the disappointing loss.
Two-time IPL winner Robin Uthappa shared his insights on the game which PBKS won by seven wickets. The former wicketkeeper-batter praised the Punjab franchise, saying that they have managed to regain their momentum on the heels of the playoffs. According to him the batting lineup for the Shreyas Iyer-led side is looking solid, even though they will be missing two big players in the form of Josh Inglis and Marco Jansen in the playoffs due to national duty.
The 39-year-old claimed that the pacer Arshdeep Singh is yet to fire this season for PBKS, however, Uthappa has put faith in the abilities that the Guna-born possesses. For the unversed, Arshdeep has taken 18 wickets in 14 games this year, and is also the highest wicket-taker for Punjab Kings, which according to Uthappa is underwhelming. Moreover, he has still backed the franchise to make it to the finals of the tournament.
“You want momentum at the right point in the tournament and the right kind of impetus going into the play-offs. Punjab started the tournament exceptionally well, lost a bit of steam towards the back end of the league stage, but regained momentum just before the play-offs. Granted, they’re losing a player or two to national duty, but even within the squad, the batting line-up looks really solid,” Uthappa said on JioHotstar.
“For me, Arshdeep Singh hasn’t quite fired yet, and that actually augurs well for Punjab. It means he’s due for a big performance and will be raring to go in crucial games. I have a strong feeling the final is going to be between RCB and Punjab,” the IPL 2014 Orange Cap-winner added.
IPL 2025: PBKS vs MI, Match 69 – Who Said What?
If we look at MI’s batting intent, they could have definitely gone harder: Uthappa
While Uthappa extolled the Punjab Kings (PBKS), he criticised the Mumbai Indians’ (MI) approach in the game. The Karnataka-born said that the high percentage of dot balls in the MI innings led to them failing to get a 200+ total. Uthappa claimed that this also resulted in MI bowlers being under pressure while trying to defend the total of 184, which seemed to be 15-20 runs short in the end.
“If we look at MI’s batting intent, they could have definitely gone harder. They had 46% dot balls — usually, coaches want that number between 30–35% when setting a target. That’s the difference — those extra dot balls could’ve been converted into a few boundaries, a couple of sixes, or even just singles. If they’d reached 205–210, it could’ve been a very different game,” Uthappa said.
“The bowlers would’ve had more to work with. Instead, they looked desperate for wickets, which led to poor execution. It’s understandable — when there’s an opportunity to jump from fourth to first, players tend to push harder. Unfortunately, they now finish fourth,” he concluded.
