By CS Chiwanza.
Gujarat Titans’ spinners put on a clinic as they helped restrict Mumbai Indians’ batters to 152 for nine to secure a dominant 55-run win in their Tata Indian Premier League match at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Tuesday.
Mumbai were simply outclassed in every department as they slumped to their heaviest defeat in six years. 55 runs is the biggest margin Mumbai has lost by since the 2017 edition of the IPL. With this win, GT rises from fourth place to second on the log.
GT was defending 207 runs, thanks to an outstanding innings by Shubman Gill. The GT opener struck seven fours and a single six on his way to a brilliant 56 off 36. GT’s highest run-scorer so far this season looked at his best as he built a solid foundation for his side.
So far this season, GT has had one of the lowest run rates in the middle overs. They have been trundling along at 7.37 runs per over. Today, it looked like there was a conscious effort by the batters to go at a quicker pace. Gill led the charge by scoring his fastest half-century of the season. His 17th IPL half-century and third of the season came off 30 deliveries.
GT scored 80 runs between the seventh and 15th over.
With the foundation in place, the setting was perfect for GT’s explosive middle order of Abhinav Monahar (42 off 21), David Miller (46 off 22) and Rahul Tewatia (20 off 5) to play with freedom and post a score that was beyond the reach of Mumbai’s batting line-up.
Mumbai’s bowlers have developed a reputation for being expensive at the death and Monahar, Miller and Tewatia took advantage of that weakness. Manohar and Miller stitched together a 71-run partnership off 36 balls. That partnership was followed by a 33-run partnership between Miller and Tewatia that came off 10 deliveries.
When it was their turn to bat, Mumbai simply failed to get going. In the PowerPlay they found Mohammed Shami to be too much of a handful. Mumbai has been dominant with the bat in the PowerPlay but looked uncertain while Shami was operating.
The India international was playing his 100th IPL match, and despite not taking a wicket, he walked away with the best economy rate of the match. He conceded runs at 4.5 runs an over. Shami came into the match with 61 dot balls in the PowerPlay and 11 more to bump that number up to 72.
Noor Ahmad and Rashid Khan capitalised on the work put in by Mohammed Shami in the PowerPlay. The pair took five wickets for 64 runs in eight overs to help GT record their first home win of the season. Khan, the purple cap holder, was at his unplayable best. The Afghan international took two wickets for 27, while his international teammate took three for 37 in four overs.
Noor showed all his class despite going for a few runs when Suryakumar Yadav (23) was at the crease. Nehal Wadhera’s entertaining 40 off 21 deliveries and Cameron Green’s 33 off 26 were the bright lights in Mumbai’s innings.
GUJARAT TITANS: Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Hardik Pandya (capt), Vijay Shankar, Abhinav Manohar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Mohammed Shami, Mohit Sharma, Noor Ahmad.
MUMBAI INDIANS: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ishan Kishan (wk), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Arjun Tendulkar, Kumar Kartikeya, Piyush Chawla, Jason Behrendorff, Riley Meredith.