India, May 3 -- The Mumbai Indians were still in the match when Hardik Pandya walked in. They were not flying, but they had a platform. At one stage, MI were placed well enough to think of a total in the 180-190 range, the kind of score that could have asked a serious question of Chennai Super Kings.

Instead, the innings lost its shape. The middle overs slowed, the final push never fully arrived, and MI finished at 159. Chennai Super Kings chased it down with eight wickets in hand, turning what should have been a competitive contest into a fairly comfortable finish.

Hardik's innings sat at the centre of that slowdown. His 18 off 23 did not merely hurt MI's run rate. In our match-value model, it created an immediate Rs.82.65 lakh batting...