The Gujarat Titans clinched a tight six-run win over the Mumbai Indians in their Tata Indian Premier League match, after a top fightback from their bowlers at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday night.
Mumbai won the toss and sent the Titans into bat, with them managing a very chaseable 168/6 in their 20 overs, with Jasprit Bumrah starring with the ball.
Mumbai then looked well on target for an easy win with Dewald Brevis, 46 off 38 balls (2x4, 3x6) and Rohit Sharma, 43 off 29 (7x4, 1x6), taking them to 107/2 after 12 overs.
But a late-innings collapse followed as they lost seven wickets for just 55 runs down the back straight to finish short on 162/9 at the end of their 20 overs.
The Titans bowlers shared the wickets with Mohit Sharma, 2-32, Azmatullah Omarzai, 2-27, Umesh Yadav, 2-31, and Spencer Johnson, 2-25, each picking up a double which helped them defend their total.
A game of ᴇʙʙꜱ & ꜰʟᴏᴡꜱ 🫡@gujarat_titans display quality death bowling to secure a remarkable 6️⃣ run win over #MI 👏@ShubmanGill's captaincy starts off with with a W
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 24, 2024
Scorecard ▶️https://t.co/oPSjdbb1YT #TATAIPL | #GTvMI pic.twitter.com/jTBxANlAtk
The Mumbai chase got off to an entertaining start with wickets and boundaries littered throughout the powerplay.
Omarzai had Ishan Kishan flashing at an away swinging delivery for him to fall for a fourth-ball duck in the opening over, but saw his next disappear for 19 runs as Naman Dhir, 20 off 10, crunched three fours and a six off it before he was trapped LBW off the last ball with the score 30/2 after three overs.
Brevis joined Rohit, who also got stuck in during the powerplay hitting four fours and a six, and they took their side to 52/2 by the end of it and to 88/2 at the halfway mark, with them hitting Johnson for 17 in the 10th over thanks to a six from Brevis and two fours from Sharma.
Brevis was upping the ante and a four from his bat at the start of Sharma in the 12th over saw the hundred come up, but at the start of the next over Rohit was pinned LBW by Sai Kishore with the score 108/3.
That started a regular procession of wickets, which included the important scalp of Brevis caught and bowled by Sharma, while only Tilak Varma, 25 off 19 (1x4, 1x6) managed to get decent runs, as the rest of the batting order fell apart leaving Mumbai just short in the end.
BUMRAH SHINES
In the first innings superb figures of 3-14 in his four overs from Jasprit Bumrah, and 2/27 from Gerald Coetzee’s helped Mumbai keep the Titans to a respectable score.
Sai Sudharsan, 45 off 39 balls (3x4, 1x6) and Shubman Gill, 31 off 22 (3x4, 1x6) were the pick of the Mumbai batters with their efforts at the top of the order.
The Titans innings got off to a decent start as openers Wriddhiman Saha (15) and Gill shared 31 for the first wicket within four overs, but Bumrah yorked Saha with the last ball of the fourth to clean bowl him, leaving them on 31/1.
Gill and Sudharsan took the Titans to 47/1 by the end of the powerplay and over the 50 run mark in the seventh over, but just as they were looking to kick on Gill came down the wicket to Piyush Chawla and hit him straight into the hands of Rohit at long on, with the score 64/2 in the eighth over.
Omarzai (17) was next man in and along with Sudharsan they took their side to 82/2 at the halfway mark, before having a go at Chawla in the 11th over, with both betters walloping a six as 17 came off it.
A single from Sudharsan off Coetzee in the 12th over brought up their hundred, but the bowler struck with the last ball, having Omarzai caught at deep midwicket by Varma as they slipped to 104/3.
David Miller (12) and Sudharsan added 29 for the fourth wicket, but never really managed to get going before Bumrah came back into the attack and accounted for both, with Miller caught by Hardik Pandya at mid-off and Sudharsan by Varma at deep backward square leg, as they fell to 134/5 in the 17th over.
Sai Sudharsan's gritty innings of 45(39) helped him win the Player of the Match award 🏆#TATAIPL | #GTvMI | @gujarat_titans | @sais_1509 pic.twitter.com/cWApjk1odi
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 24, 2024
Rahul Tewatia, 22 off 15 (2x4, 1x6), managed to get hold of Luke Wood in the 18th over as he hammered a six back over his head and back-to-back boundaries with 19 coming off it.
But two solid final overs followed from Bumrah and Coetzee, including Tewatia being caught by Dhir at deep square leg, as they ended on 168/6.
MUMBAI INDIANS: Ishan Kishan (wk), Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (capt), Tim David, Shams Mulani, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chala, Jasprit Bumrah, Luke Wood
GUJARAT TITANS: Wriddhiman Saha (capt, wk), Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Umesh Yadav, Sai Kishore, Spencer Johnson