MUMBAI: On the strength of Suryakumar Yadav's first IPL century and a strong bowling performance, Mumbai Indians (MI) defeated Gujarat Titans (GT) by a score of 27 runs in a season 2023 encounter played at the Wankhede Stadium in this city on Friday.
As the first pair to bat, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan immediately established the tone with their combative demeanour. Rashid, however, had the potential to win the match with his four-wicket haul (4/30). Surya, however, helped MI reach 218/5 in 20 overs with his unbroken 103 off just 49 balls that included 11 boundaries and six maximums.
In response, GT was down to 48-3 in Powerplay after failing to get off to the crucial start. In the middle overs, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia kept things in check. However, the Titans were unable to begin the chase because they kept losing wickets.
After putting up an excellent bowling performance, Rashid worked his magic with the bat and thrilled the fans with an unbeaten 79 off 32. His late onslaught, though, was insufficient to save the visitors, as Gujarat ultimately reached 191/8 in 20 overs.
The Titans, who were chasing 219, got off to a surprising start in the Powerplay when they lost three batters in three straight overs. Wriddhiman Saha was trapped lbw by Akash Madhwal in the second over, but the opener reviewed it, and UltraEdge revealed that the bat was not involved, giving MI the first breakthrough.
Jason Behrendorff caught Hardik Pandya behind in the next over. Then, in the third over, Madhwal struck once more, eliminating Shubman Gill for six runs and dropping GT to 26-3. In the following two overs, Vijay Shankar hit five boundaries, bringing the Powerplay total up to 48-3.
After the break, Piyush Chawla launched an attack and removed Shankar, who had misread his googly and allowed the ball to get through and strike a stump.
After that, another spinner Abhinav Manohar was destroyed by Kumar Kartikeya, and GT appeared to be in serious trouble when half of their batting lineup was dismissed for 59 runs in eight overs. Miller then gave the over some momentum by hitting two consecutive boundaries and a maximum, for a total of 18 runs. Halfway through the chase, the Titans were down 82-5.
David Miller and Rahul Tewatia stabilised the innings as they maintained rotating the strike to keep the scoreboard reeling when the asking run rate soared to almost 14 runs per over and stitched a 45-run stand.
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IPL: Mumbai Indians to take on Gujarat Titans might in vital IPL clash
