Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has stirred a fresh controversy by raising suspicions of match-fixing against the Mumbai Indians after their win against Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2025 Eliminator.
Ashwin, who played for Chennai Super Kings this season, shared a past incident involving MI that made him question the team’s repeated stroke of fortune in tense games.
Ashwin Recalls Suspicious 2018 IPL Game
After MI defeated GT by 20 runs in Ahmedabad to qualify for the second qualifier, Ashwin recalled a 2018 match when he was captain of Punjab Kings. According to him, Mumbai Indians were in deep trouble at 80 for 5 after 13 overs when suddenly the floodlights went off, causing a 20-minute delay.
“When the lights came back, Pollard played a stunning knock and MI somehow scored 200. That break changed the entire momentum,” Ashwin said.
He hinted that such fortunate interruptions seemed to favour Mumbai Indians more than any other team.
“You earn your luck, but they also get lucky every time. I don’t know how. There’s something that keeps going their way,” he added.
MI Knock Out GT With All-Round Show
Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians produced a solid performance to eliminate Gujarat Titans and advance to the second qualifier of IPL 2025.
Opting to bat first, MI posted a big total of 228 for 5. Rohit Sharma top-scored with 81 off 50 balls, supported by useful cameos from Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya.
R Sai Kishore and Prasidh Krishna picked up two wickets each for GT. In response, GT had a shaky start, losing Shubman Gill for 1.
Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar kept them alive with an 84-run stand, but Jasprit Bumrah’s timely strike removed Sundar in the 14th over. Sudharsan scored 80 runs, but GT eventually fell short by 20 runs, managing 208 for 6.
With this win, Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai Indians will now face Punjab Kings in Qualifier 2, while Royal Challengers Bengaluru await in the final.
