Ahmedabad: Gujarat Titans produced a clinical performance to outclass Mumbai Indians by 55 runs in a completely one-sided IPL match here Tuesday.
Set a stiff target of 208, MI were stopped at 152 for nine.
MI didn’t get the kind of start they would have liked and were struggling at 29 for the loss of captain Rohit Sharma’s wicket in six overs, the team failing miserably to utilise the powerplay.
While trying to work the ball on the onside, Rohit got a leading edge and ended up giving a return catch to his opposite number, Hardik Pandya, in the second over.
After the seamers have done their job, star leg-spinner Rashid Khan came on and bowled a very economical first over.
MI managed to score 13 runs in the seventh over, before Rashid ended Ishan Kishan’s painstaking stay in the middle. Ishan consumed an many as 21 balls for his 13 runs.
Three balls later, Rashid had Tilak Varma trapped in front of the wicket to leave MI reeling at 45 for three in the eighth over.
From there, five-time winners MI could not do enough to challenge the defending champions.
After a forgettable outing with the ball where he was smashed around for 39 runs in two overs, Cameron Green chipped in with 33 off 26 balls, while Suryakumar Yadav contributed 23 in 12 balls. Nehal Wadhera smashed his way to 40 in just 21 deliveries, but their efforts only delayed the inevitable.
Besides Rashid’s 2/27 in four overs, Noor Ahmad, the other spinner from Afghanistan, finished with impressive figures of 3/37 in his full quota of overs.
Earlier, GT’s lower middle-order used the long handle to good effect and powered their team to a formidable 207 for six.
David Miller blazed away to a 22-ball 46, Rahul Tewatia smashed an unbeaten 20 in just five balls, while Abhinav Manohar needed only 21 deliveries to make 42 during a vital partnership of 71 runs for the fifth wicket with the South African.
This was after Shubman Gill made a neat 34-ball 56.
Arjun Tendulkar began on a promising note and conceded four runs in the opening over after his skipper Rohit opted to bowl first on winning the toss.
Gill got the first boundary of the match as the opener played one behind square off a Jason Behrendorff delivery that was slightly short.
MI didn’t have to wait long for their first breakthrough as Wriddhiman Saha missed an attempted pull shot to edge one to the keeper off Tendulkar in the first ball of the third over.
Having taken his partner Gill’s advice, Saha reviewed, but the on-field umpire’s decision was retained by UltraEdge.
It was a nice comeback by Tendulkar junior, four days after being smacked for 48 runs in three overs by Punjab Kings. Growing in confidence, the 23-year-old left-arm seamer gave away just five runs.
With the help of few fours and a six, Gill gave the GT innings the momentum it needed after a quiet first five overs.
Gill collected 17 runs off Green’s first as GT reached 50 for one at the end of the six powerplay overs.
However, defending champions GT suffered a major blow when Piyush Chawla (2/34) snared skipper Hardik caught in the deep by Suryakumar after the batter had made 13 off 14 balls.
GT were in for another shock as Gill, having played some fine shots on way to his brisk half-century, was sent back by Kumar Kartikeya to leave the team 91 for three at the start of the 12th over. Gill hit seven fours and a six.
Vijay Shankar was dismissed for 16-ball 19 before Manohar and Miller accelerated with their big hitting.
Manohar accumulated 17 runs off Chawla’s final over to ruin his figures after three economical overs.
The duo of Manohar and Miller then amassed 22 runs in the 18th over bowled by Green, who was smashed for three sixes.
Finally, Riley Meredith took out Manohar in the beginning of the 19th over, out bowled as the batter looked to loft the ball over long-off.
Tewatia had a first ball six, before Miller ended the over with two more maximums.
PTI
