“Injured” Rohit Sharma’s plan comes to Hardik Pandya’s rescue, removes danger man Nicholas Pooran

Rohit Sharma had missed the MI vs LSG match, after being hit in the nets while practicing; the 37-year-old came out with suggestions during time out.

Before the IPL 2025 clash between LSG and MI on Friday, Hardik Pandya the bowler’s record against Nicholas Pooran was rather poor. The pacer was hit for 84 runs in 62 balls by the southpaw dasher, with just one dismissal, at a strike-rate of over 135. But all thanks to Rohit Sharma, who missed the match due to a niggle, that Pandya got his second dismissal of the orange-cap holder.

Hardik Pandya Gets Nicholas Pooran Early

During the time-out, it seemed that the ex-skipper instructed Pandya to bowl slow and short to trouble the West Indian; and that is exactly what happened in the ninth over. On the fifth delivery, Hardik Panyda bowled a perfect slower bouncer, that hurried the batsman into playing a shot, and eventually getting caught.

Rohit Sharma Comes to MI’s Rescue

Pooran was out for only 12 from 6 deliveries, that landed an early blow on LSG. Meanwhile, this is his first failure in IPL 2025, having returned with scores of 75, 70 and 44 in the previous three matches. Unfortunately for LSG, even captain Rishabh Pant could not deliver, once again, and was out cheaply for the fourth time.

As far as the rest of the match is concerned, Mitchell Marsh gave a solid start to the team, and struck his fifty in quick time, to take them to 69/0 in only 6 overs. But from there on, a few wickets fell in quick succession, which derailed the innings a bit.