Blog: Gujarat Titans off the mark with a thumping win over Mumbai Indians

Naman Dhir and Mitchell Santner hit four fours and a six across the 18th and the 19th overs. But it's too little too late. They needed 63 from the last two and 46 from the last.

Siraj returns to bowl the final over and completes the formalities. It was not a perfect game for GT, and Sudharsan's fitness will be a concern, but for now, they have opened their account in IPL 2025 - something MI are yet to do. They now have two defeats in two games.

With Hardik struggling on 9 off 13, MI relied heavily on a well-set Suryakumar Yadav. But Prasidh has dealt a big (decisive?) blow to their hopes. It is once again a slower ball. How slow? Just 97.1 kph. It is full around off. Suryakumar tries to go down the ground. But as soon as he hits it, he knows he has not made a good connection. Gill takes an easy catch at long-off.

In the next over, Rabada gives away only four and, with the last ball, has Hardik dabbing one straight to Siraj at short third.

MI 124/6 after 17. They need 73 from three

Sai Kishore is bowling his final over. After two dots, he strays down the leg side and Hardik helps it to the fine-leg boundary. On the next ball, Hardik jumps out of his crease but isn't to the pitch of the ball. He ends up defending it back towards the bowler, who fields it and feigns a throw.

Hardik, Kishore's former captain at GT, gives the bowler a stare, and Kishore doesn't back down. Eventually, he has to turn around to bowl the next ball.

Just six runs from the over means the asking rate has climbed to 15.80. MI need a big over and need it soon.

It is a short ball from Prasidh, an offcutter at 129.2kph. Suryakumar moves across and looks to pull it fine. The ball hits the gloves and ricochets to hit the peak of the helmet. But the impact and Suryakumar's momentum towards the off side means he is flat on the ground.

The physio comes out to have a look, and decides Suryakumar is alright to continue. Only four runs comes from the over, though.

Minz, MI's Impact Player, fails to make any impact. Sai Kishore angles one across him. Minz tries to go over mid-off but ends up toe-ending the length ball to short third for a simple catch to Ishant.

Hardik walks in and the crowd is chanting his name. It is the same ground he was booed at last season. Clearly, everyone has moved on, as MI coach Mahela Jayawardene said before the match.

GT's plan is clear: Prasidh Krishna is their death bowler. Coming in the 12th over, he strikes straightaway. He slips in an offcutter from around the wicket. Tilak, who had slowed down considerably after that blazing start, was feeling the heat. He tried to target the midwicket boundary but didn't get the timing right and Tewatia completed the catch with a slide after running to his left.

MI have called in Robin Minz as their Impact Player. He replaces S Raju.

He was beaten in the flight by Sai Kishore but his long reach allowed him to get to the pitch of the ball and his hands ensured his lofted the ball over extra cover. The wide long-off ran to his left, to stop it if not catch it, but the ball kept sailing and just cleared the boundary.

Surya has moved to 37 off 20 but MI need 100 from 54 balls. The good thing is they have eight wickets in hand.

It is a full ball from Sai Kishore that Suryakumar sweeps behind square leg. Sai Sudharsan sprints to his right and puts in a full-length dive. He cannot prevent the boundary. In more bad news for GT, he seems to have hurt his left hamstring. He had to be helped off the field.

Glenn Phillips comes on as a substitute. GT can do this as Rutherford has made way for Impact Player Ishant.

Meanwhile, GT have moved to 86 for 2 after ten overs. They need 111 from the remaining ten.

Earlier this year, Rashid and Rabada played a key role in MI Cape Town lifting their maiden SA20 title. They were the joint-highest wicket-takers for their team. Now they are doing it against MI.

Rashid bowled the last over of the powerplay and almost trapped Tilak lbw. The on-field umpire had given it out but Tilak got the decision changed on review. The over, though, went for only four. In the next over, Rabada conceded just six.

MI know it's not an easy target and they would have to make the most of the powerplay. After two dots in the second over, Tilak pulls Rabada and then muscles him past mid-on for back-to-back fours. But what he did next was the best of the lot. He moved towards the off side early and scooped Rabada over short fine leg for a six.

But barring that, GT have managed to keep a lid on the scoring rate. After that 15-run Rabada over, GT gave away only six in the third and two in the fourth. Rickelton, 6 off eight, feeling the heat and tries to slog Siraj. All he gets is an inside edge onto the stumps and Siraj brings out the Siuu celebrations.

Suryakumar Yadav, in at No. 4, brings out his own trademark shot, the supla, and picks up a six off the second legal ball he faces.

After Rohit hit Siraj for two fours off the first three balls of the chase, it looked like he would extend his perfect record against the seamer. But two balls later, Siraj cut him in half with a scrambled-seam delivery and bowled him.

As expected, GT have brought in Ishant Sharma as their Impact Player. Sherfane Rutherford goes out.

As a penalty for their slow over rate, MI could have only four fielders in the outfield for the final over. S Raju was the bowler. Bowling his back-of-the-hand slower ones, he gave away only ten despite being hit for a six by Rashid. As a result, GT ended on 196 for 8.

Boult tells the commentators that they wanted to keep GT under 200, and half the job is done. With dew starting to set in, he also expects the chase to be easier.

Sudharsan hit Boult for a six off the first ball of the 18th over but the seamer made an excellent comeback. He conceded only three singles in the next four balls before trapping Sudharsan lbw with a yorker with the last.

On the first ball of the next, Rahul Tewatia was run-out with Hardik nailing a direct hit from mid-off. On the following ball, Rutherford too perished, holing out to deep extra cover. Rabada did hit a six but the over fetched GT only seven runs.

A much-needed big over for GT. S Raju goes for 19 as Sudharsan and Sherafane Rutherford hit a six each. There were two wides as well in there.

We thought 180 would be a par total here. GT are eyeing 200 and beyond.

Shahrukh Khan started the 16th over, bowled by Hardik, with a pulled six but two balls later, he holed out to deep extra cover against a slow, short and wide delivery.

Hardik bowls a few more slower short balls in the rest of the overs, including wide.

... off 33 balls, making it two in two games. His strike rate generally keeps improving as the innings progress and GT would expect the same tonight as well. Boult, though, concedes only six singles in the 15th over. Remember, this is the same phase where they had lost the game against PBKS.

A big, big wicket. Buttler was well set and was steering the team. But Mujeeb, after an expensive first over in the powerplay, has struck. It was wide ball outside off and Buttler went after it. A got a healthy outside edge and Ryan Rickelton did well behind the stumps to latch on to it.

Shahrukh Khan is the new batter, GT maintaining the left-right combination.

Parthiv Patel, GT's assistant and batting coach, is speaking to the commentators, and he says: "It was a deliberate call from us to have the black-soil pitch tonight, as opposed to the red-soil one. The black-soil pitches are on the slower side. There are some cracks on the surface, but it's playing better than it looks. I think our openers made the most of the powerplay."

Meanwhile, Buttler ended the boundary drought in the tenth over with a six and a four off the successive balls against Santner. In the next over, when Hardik bowled a slower bouncer - something Parthiv said bowlers will do a lot - Buttler put it away for four. Hardik still has pretty impressive figures: 3-0-18-1.

He might not have taken the new ball but Hardik has dismissed Gill yet again. Their match-up now reads 11 balls, 18 balls, four dismissals.

The field spread after the powerplay, and the ball became somewhat softer. That allowed MI to slow down the scoring rate. Up until Gill's dismissal, GT had scored just 12 runs in 14 balls, and not a single boundary, after the powerplay. Gill tried to break the shackles but ended up pulling a short ball into the hands of Naman Dhir at deep square leg.

GT started the season with the goal to maximise the powerplay; they were the slowest side in that phase last season, with a run rate of 7.72. Gill and Sudharsan are doing their best to improve that. They have taken GT to 66 for no loss after six overs, their third-best powerplay ever, and both have contributed equally: 32 off 18 balls. Deep Gadhia tells me this also the first wicketless powerplay this season while batting first

Gill has completed 1000 runs in the IPL at this venue. Sampath tells me he has taken the second-fewest innings for any batter to complete 1000 IPL runs at a venue. Here's the full list:

19 - Chris Gayle, Bengaluru
20 - Shubman Gill, Ahmedabad
22 - David Warner, Hyderabad
26 - Shaun Marsh, Mohali
31 - Suryakumar Yadav, Wankhede

Across all T20s, Gill has 1127 runs in 21 innings here, at an average of 70.43 and a strike rate of 164.04.

Sudharsan was slow in the powerplay against PBKS, scoring around a strike rate of 119. After the game, Gill mentioned how the first three overs, and the three in the middle, cost them the game.

Tonight, Sudharsan is showing a more positive intent. He stepped out to Boult to on-drive him for four. Two balls later, he flicked him for another boundary.

As expected, Boult and Chahar shared the new ball. Chahar has dismissed Gill four times in ten innings but Gill has an average of 20 and a strike rate of 146 against him.

And as Gill said before the season, about maximising the powerplay, he has shown his intent. He stepped out to Boult to cart him over extra cover before pulling Chahar over square leg for four. Gill has moved to 12 off eight, Sudharsan is on 2 off four.

MI have got two specialist new-ball bowlers in Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar. But there's a case for Hardik to take the new ball. He has dismissed Gill three times in 12 balls across four T20 innins while giving away just seven runs.

Mumbai Indians have won the toss and they will bowl first. "Not sure how the pitch is going to play," Hardik says. "The dew is also a factor. It's always better to bat second on the black-soil pitch."

Apart from Hardik coming in for Will Jacks, Mujeeb Ur Rahman has replaced left-arm wristspinner Vignesh Puthur who picked up a three-for against CSK. Robin Minz could be their Impact Player.

"We were also looking to bowl first but, you know, one team has to bat first," Shubman Gill says. "We have got the same team but you might see one change when we bowl."

On Buttler batting at No. 3, Gill says, "The idea was to have the right-left combination at the top, and Buttler is batting at No. 3 for England."

GT have left out Arshad Khan but there is no Washington Sundar, at least not yet. Ishant Sharma is likely to be their Impact Player.

Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Suryakumar Yadav, 4 Tilak Varma, 5 Hardik Pandya (capt), 6 Naman Dhir, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Deepak Chahar, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 11 S Raju

Impact Player options: Robin Minz, Ashwani Kumar, Will Jacks, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch

Gujarat Titans: 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 Sai Sudharsan, 3 Jos Buttler (wk), 4 Sherfane Rutherford, 5 Shahrukh Khan, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 R Sai Kishore, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Prasidh Krishna

Impact Player options: Ishant Sharma, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror

The previous game in Ahmedabad was a high-scoring one. Batting first, PBKS scored 243 for 5 and GT fell short by only 11. But this match is played on a fresh, black-soil pitch. Michael Clarke says it's going to be two-paced and 180 might be par.

We saw two types of pitches in Ahmedabad last season as well. Four times in eight games, the team batting first failed to cross 170, with GT's 89 all out against Delhi Capitals being the lowest. But on three occasions, the team batting first, GT on all three, posted 199 or more.

MI have plenty of left-hand batters in their line-up. GT's two first-choice spinners, Rashid and R Sai Kishore, turn the ball into the left-hand batters. Does that bring Washington Sundar into the picture? GT left him out for the first game against PBKS. They picked Arshad Khan as their fourth seamer and lower-order hitter. Arshad went for 21 in the only over he bowled. Do GT continue with Arshad, or bring in Washington, or maybe Mahipal Lomror to strengthen their middle order.

Continuing with Rashid, till IPL 2022, his worst economy in a season was 6.73. While he went for 8.23 an over in 2023, he did pick up 27 wickets. However, his economy went up to 8.40 last season and wickets dropped to ten from 12 games.

In the first game of this season, the Punjab Kings batters hit him for five sixes and ransacked 48 of his four overs. Is Rashid's impact diminishing?