Gujarat Titans 147 for 7 (Gill 43, Bumrah 2-19) beat Mumbai Indians 155 for 8 (Jacks 53, Sai Kishore 2-34) by three wickets (DLS method)
Just before midnight, MI would have believed they had made an unlikely comeback when it began to rain. With two overs remaining, they had taken 4 for 25 between two rain breaks, cutting GT’s lead of eight on the DLS par score to a four-run disadvantage.
The game resumed at the penultimate minute, leaving GT 15 to get in the 19th over, thanks to some outstanding groundstaff work. If someone had came around to pick up the throw from mid-off, MI may have still forced a tie with one needed off the final ball. There were wild celebrations in the GT camp as Hardik Pandya, who had bowled two no-balls earlier and had chosen not to bowl the final over, missed with the direct-hit.
Early seam
After winning the toss and opting to field, GT was able to take advantage of significant seam movement. Arshad Khan harassed Rohit Sharma before dismissing him for seven off eight, and Mohammed Siraj had Ryan Rickleton caught at short cover on the second ball.
Jacks, Surya make GT pay for dropped catches
GT had the opportunity to eliminate MI right then and there, but they benched Suryakumar Yadav on 10 and Will Jacks on 0 and 29. In just 29 balls, Jacks scored his first fifty for MI, and Suryakumar scored 25 or more for the 12th time in a row. MI appeared to be in a good position with 97 for 2 in 10.3 overs, even with some assistance from the spinners.
GT bowlers fight back
The second half of MI’s innings demonstrated the quality and depth of the GT bowling, which enables their hitters to play more traditional cricket than some other teams. He then went over the wicket and cramped Suryakumar on an inside-out shot for a catch at long-off. Hardik slogged and top-edged after he always answered to the attacking fields. After drawing five incorrect shots in nine balls sent to him, Rashid Khan took Jacks’ wicket between these two to symbolize his recovery from 3-0-50-0 in the previous game.
With one wicket apiece, Prasidh Krishna and Gerald Coetzee consolidated their hold on the purple catch. After returning, Rashid bowled the 18th over for just four runs.
Seam, chaos, drama
MI also had success with the new ball, and they have the bowling to take advantage of it. Trent Boult came within one run of Suryakumar’s 510-run total this year after defeating B Sai Sudharsan on the opening ball and then taking his edge on the second. During a challenging, chaotic period, two other GT batters reached 500 runs, but Suryakumar’s orange cap stayed on his head. Jos Buttler and Shubman Gill had to actually weather the storm in the face of strong winds. Boult and Jasprit Bumrah were outstanding, and GT was far behind the par score at 21 for 1 in five overs, the shortest amount of time needed to qualify as a match.
When Jacks began the said over, Rutherford was just one point off two and GT was five points behind the par score. After three dots, GT appeared to be having problems. However, Rutherford’s inside-edged four and two beautiful inside-out shots for ten runs turned the tide. He got Ashwani in the next over. Rain pulled competitors off the field for the first time, putting GT eight points ahead of the par score.
Bumrah, Boult bring MI back
When play began without any deduction in the overs, Boult had one over remaining and Bumrah had two. Amazingly, Bumrah got past Shahrukh Khan two balls after he had struck Bumrah for a four and Gill, who scored 43 off 46 despite two free hits and a dropped catch, by drawing seam movement from the old ball. Boult got Rutherford out for 28 off 15 by skidding one through between these two wickets.
Chaos peaks
They got the teams back on for that one over, and it’s a miracle. MI was in double difficulties since their sluggish over-rate forced them to bowl with one fewer boundary rider after their three best bowlers went out. Rahul Tewatia hammered the first ball to the fence, while Chahar found it difficult to handle a wet ball. They needed four off three after Coetzee blasted a slot ball over long-off.
MI committed two errors. Suryakumar and the bowler were slow to reach the stumps from short extra cover, and they failed to place a player next to the pitch to leap on and catch a throw. Hardik had to shy at the stumps after looking up to see whether he could toss the ball to anyone but finding none. He didn’t make it.