Mumbai Indians owner Nita Ambani and son Akash Ambani looked visibly dejected as their team faced a defeat in a thrilling IPL encounter against Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday.
Batting first, Lucknow Super Giants made 177-3 in 20 overs with Marcus Stoinis scoring 89 from 47 balls. Stand-in skipper Krunal Pandya chipped with 49 from 42 balls.
In reply, Mumbai Indians could only manage 172-5, losing the match by five runs. Despite this defeat, Mumbai Indians are still in contention for the play-off stage but the disappointment on the face Nita and Akash was palpable. The prospect of being kicked out of the competition for a five-time IPL champions may have been simply too difficult to digest for India’s richest family members.
Even though, Tim David gave some hopes to the Ambanis that he was destined to pull off a remarkable victory for his side as he hit Afghanistan’s Naveen ul Haq for 19 runs in the 19th over. Mumbai Indians needed to score just 11 runs from the last over to script an important win, but David lost the strike and Cameron Green was made to face the penetrating over of Mohsin Khan, who conceded just five runs in the last over to guide his side to a thrilling win.
Lucknow Super Giants have almost registered their place for the play-off stage by securing 15 points from 13 matches. As for Mumbai Indians, they are placed fourth with 14 points from 13 matches.
The Ambanis are known for being passionate about their cricket franchise and have shown keen involvement in the game. Both Nita and her son have recently been seen interacting with even rival players after the matches involving Mumbai Indians.
Their passion from Mumbai Indians could be seen in a web series, Cricket Fever: Mumbai Indians, broadcast on Netflix.
Tuesday’s defeat was cruel for one reason that Mumbai Indians were capable of scring 11 runs in the last over had Tim David been given a strike.
