Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya had a fantastic game as a skipper against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 12th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The match between the two teams took place at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday (31st March).

Hardik Pandya registered his first win as captain of Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The five-time champions beat defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets to bag important two points in the 18th edition of the league.

Mumbai Indians had a terrific outing with the ball

Mumbai Indians, who won the toss, had a terrific outing with the ball as they made Kolkata Knight Riders batting lineup looked absolutely clueless. The pacers in Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, and Ashwani Kumar were all over the batters as they bundled out the opposition for just 116.

Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar began proceedings in the powerplay before the show was stolen by debutant Ashwani Kumar. The young pacer picked four wickets in his maiden outing and registered the best figures by an Indian bowler on debut as he returned with 4/24.

Skipper Hardik Pandya, along with Vignesh Puthur and Mitchell Santner, also bagged one wicket each as they ended Kolkata Knight Riders innings inside 17 overs. As they ended the opposition’s innings for a low total, skipper Hardik Pandya was chuffed to bits.

Hardik Pandya, who came under pressure after losing two back-to-back games, was seen giving a flying kiss to Trent Boult, who also returned the favor. The rest of the Mumbai Indians team also were joyous.

Watch: Hardik Pandya and Trent Boult give flying kisses to each other

Here’s the video:

A different ‘Monday Blues’ for @mipaltan 💙#MI register a convincing 8⃣-wicket victory over #KKR and are up and away in #TATAIPL 👌💙

Scorecard ▶ https://t.co/iEwchzEpDk#MIvKKR pic.twitter.com/FtEfP0HDtJ

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 31, 2025

I took my time, I just had to lay bat on it to be honest, the ball was moving around, lucky to have got some runs – Ryan Rickelton

In the chase, the Mumbai Indians came up with the dominating effort. Ryan Rickelton (62*) slammed a brilliant half-century while Suryakumar Yadav played a cameo of 27 runs off just 9 balls to take his team to the win with around 7 overs to spare.

Ryan Rickelton talked about his innings against KKR, saying that he took his time and was lucky to get runs when the ball was moving. He also talked about the conditions at the Wankhede Stadium and said:

“I took my time, I just had to lay bat on it to be honest, the ball was moving around, lucky to have got some runs. Chatting to the guys back in South Africa about the Wankhede, it does a bit, it’s challenging but looking forward to getting out again and try to maximise the pace on offer.”

“It’s unbelievable, I have never been to the Wankhede before, the crowd turned the stadium blue, definitely going to enjoy my time here,” Ryan Rickelton said after the match.”

Also Read: Who is Ashwani Kumar? MI pacer who created history with a 4-wicket haul on IPL debut