Miller, Manohar & Rashid and Noor destroyed Mumbai Indians
Gujarat Titans’ batting fireworks in the death overs and a superb bowling display from their Afghan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad gave them their second win in a row, as they steamrolled Mumbai Indians for their second straight loss in Ahmedabad. With this win, Titans climbed to the second spot on the points table, tied with table-toppers Chennai Super Kings. Mumbai’s death bowling came in the spotlight again as their quicks leaked 70 runs in the last four overs after conceding 65 in the same phase against Punjab Kings in their last game.
After Shubman Gill’s fifty and a boundary-laden partnership of 71 off just 35 balls between Abhinav Manohar and David Miller for the fifth wicket, Mumbai’s batting firepower fizzled against Afghanistan’s spin duo as only one of their top six crossed 25. Mumbai fell short by 55 runs after being reduced to 59 for 5 in the 11th over. Arjun Tendulkar kept it tight with his inswing early on that had Wriddhiman Saha caught down leg, and along with Jason Behrendorff, he kept Titans to 33 for 1 after five overs.
Gill then started his onslaught by milking Cameron Green for 17 in the last over of the powerplay, powering the run rate past eight. Mumbai brought on Piyush Chawla immediately, and Hardik Pandya holed out to long-off for 13. But that didn’t deter Gill’s tempo. He drilled Chawla through the covers for four and smashed Kumar Kartikeya to the leg side next over to reach a 30-ball fifty and lead Titans to 84 for 2 at the halfway mark. Gill and Vijay Shankar holed out to long-on against the spinners in successive overs, and at 103 for 4 after 13 overs, the innings could have tilted either way.
Abhinav Manohar bravely took on a miserly Piyush Chawla and tilted the pendulum in Titans’ favour in such a way that Mumbai never recovered. With the field spread out, Chawla started the 15th over with two full deliveries and Manohar blasted both to the cover boundary. On the fifth ball, Manohar charged down and smoked a straight six, which made it a 17-run over, the same runs Chawla had conceded in his first three. There was no stopping Manohar and Miller after that. The duo hammered three batches of back-to-back sixes in the last three overs, with the help of Rahul Tewatia, giving Mumbai’s bowling lots to think about before their next game.
Mumbai will be thrilled about unearthing another young batter, the 22-year-old Nehal Wadhera from Punjab, who showed promise during his cameo, manipulating the field to find gaps and hitting big sixes down the ground and on the leg side. However, apart from a cameo from Suryakumar Yadav, Mumbai never really had a chance of bouncing back. Mohammed Shami was so accurate with his pace and swing early on that Mumbai and India captain Rohit Sharma might have something to smile about, but Mumbai’s top order never took off in the chase. Overall, it was an impressive victory for the Gujarat Titans, with their batsmen and bowlers firing on all cylinders to secure a comprehensive win over one of the strongest teams in the league.
Final Score
Gujarat Titans 207/6
Mumbai Indians (20 overs, T:208) 152/9
Match Highlights
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