(Cricket news) The Titans scored 207 runs in their opening innings of play, thanks to Shubman Gill’s magnificent half-century (56, 34b, 7×4, 1×6) and significant contributions from David Miller (46, 22b, 2×4, 4×6) and Abhinav Manohar (42, 21b, 3×4, 3×6).
Mumbai was unable to match such firepower; Nehal Wadhera scored the most runs for them with 40 (21b, 3×4, 3×6). Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad, two Afghan spinner twins, each took five wickets. Gujarat has moved up to second place in the team standings with their victory, trailing Chennai by only net run rate with both teams having 10 points.
Last season, Hardik Pandya, a rookie captain for the Titans, led his team to the TATA IPL title. This year, he hopes to build on that success. According to JioCinema TATA IPL expert Aakash Chopra, his impact as a skipper has improved substantially.
He said, “It’s hard to win a match from a defensive position, we’ve seen this in the TATA IPL. The point about captaincy was very salient. The game started with fast bowlers bowling quite often with discipline due to the movement of the ball. Soon after, spinners were introduced at the right time. They made an error last game in judging the dew and brought Noor at the end and Hetmyer punished him.
“He learned from that and ensured Noor’s overs were done earlier. Rashid and Noor, two spinners with five wickets, and Hardik’s captaincy just seems to keep improving. Mohit wasn’t playing well but he still sent him to bowl the final over and take crucial wickets even though he could’ve done that himself as a captain. He changed Mohit’s day from bad to good to maintain his confidence. I think Hardik Pandya as a captain is growing and maturing.”
Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmed, the Gujarat Titans’ spin bowling attack, destroyed the Mumbai Indians’ hitters, taking a total of five wickets in the match. Brett Lee, a JioCinema TATA IPL expert, praised the two for their bowling synergy. “He never ever disappoints, that’s why he’s the Purple floppy holder currently. 2/27 off his four and well backed up by Noor Ahmed. Beautiful bowling, bowling in tandem. Like fast bowlers, even spinners need to hunt in packs.”
Mumbai handed up far too many runs in the first innings, especially in the final few overs when the Titans specifically hammered their bowling. JioCinema TATA IPL specialist Parthiv Patel believes MI’s bowling arsenal has significant gaps that need to be filled. “You’re being generous when you say there’s only little wrong with the Mumbai Indians bowling. If you talk about it being just one time, you can say the pitch was bad or there was a dew factor and the ball wasn’t gripping. This was a dry ground and if you do something like this twice, it shows a pattern is forming. When we were talking in commentary about how Mumbai could’ve closed the game if they took one wicket. They let go a game that was coming into their hands. If you concede almost 80 runs in five overs, the total is bound to be high. In T20, the momentum of a team is also crucial. Mumbai needs to figure out who can bowl in the death overs and which bowlers to use at what time.”
