IPL 2025: April 18
Table of Contents
What kind of pitch was that?
IPL 2025: Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, and Nitish Reddy all struggled to score even a run per ball at Wankhede? Unbelievable! The pitch was unusually slow and sticky, completely disrupting SRH’s style of play and helping MI secure a four-wicket win. Dale Steyn’s joke about a “300-run match” kind of came true if you combine both teams’ scores! Ha. Ha. Ha.
IPL 2025 Did MI pick a slow pitch on purpose?
After successfully chasing a massive total in their last game, SRH probably hoped for another good batting surface. But MI gave them pitch #6 at Wankhede the same one where IPL 2025 MI bowled KKR out for 116 earlier this season. Last year, KKR defended just 169 on this very pitch the only time a score below 200 was successfully defended at Wankhede since 2023. Draw your own conclusions wink wink.
So what did MI actually do well (besides choosing that pitch)?
They used the bowling conditions wisely. Even though SRH’s fast bowlers delivered more slower balls, MI’s bowlers made better use of the sticky pitch. They didn’t rely on just one kind of delivery like Sandeep Sharma did the night before. Boult, Bumrah, and Hardik mixed up their bowling smartly, keeping the batters guessing kind of like trying to follow directions on Google Maps in Bangalore traffic.
Bit of a letdown? Yeah.
IPL 2025 After all the hype, what we got was a tough, slow-scoring match that dragged for four hours. MI won a good toss, sure, but SRH’s batters were so thrown off by the pitch that they managed only 20 runs off the first 15 full tosses they faced. That says it all.
Will Jacks: From mistake to hero
IPL 2025 He dropped Abhishek Sharma on the very first ball of the match, but bounced back in style. He took 2 wickets for 14 runs (including Head and Ishan), and then hit 36 runs off 26 balls. A solid all-round show that earned him the Player of the Match award.
Fun fact:
SRH still haven’t won a single away game this season. Meanwhile, MI have now won 29 matches while chasing at Wankhede the most by any team at one ground in IPL 2025 IPL history.
What’s coming up today?
IPL 2025 Expect loud “RCB! RCB!” chants and traffic jams near Cubbon Park. It’s RCB vs PBKS at the Chinnaswamy. Rain might play a part, so both teams will probably prefer to bowl first especially since bowling first is usually the go-to move at this venue. Keep an eye on how PBKS respond after that big loss to SRH, and whether Devdutt Padikkal finds some form again.