Mumbai Indians, MI, have always had a bad or slow start to their IPL campaigns. It has become a tradition for them to lose their first match or few matches. With a controversial move to change the captain, they hoped for change in those fortunes. Hardik Pandya got booed and he tried some new tricks but ultimately, MI still ended up losing their first match that could’ve easily a win for them.
Also, match being against his previous team Gujarat Titans, GT, has also made it even more special and created hype around it. MI won the toss and elected to field first. GT batters on a sluggish pitch struggled to score freely. Shubman Gill(31) and Sai Sudharsan(45) tried to take the score to 180-190.
But they couldn’t carry on and GT’s big hitters also struggled. Rahul Tewatia(22)’s cameo helped GT to push their score to 168/6 in 20 overs. Jasprit Bumrah(3/14) turned to be devastating as ever. Gerald Coetzee(2/27) too had a good day. And the score looked easy for MI batters to chase it down.
In the chase, Rohit Sharma took the onus on him to take MI to winning shores. Ishan Kishan(0) got out early and Naman Dhir(20) showcased his hitting talents. MI, once again, proved that they have talented scouts who can eye a bright potential talent. Dewald Brevis(46) walked out and put on a partnership of 77 runs with Rohit Sharma(43).
At this juncture, it looked like a walk in the park for MI but Tilak Varma(25), Tim David(11) struggled against Mohit Sharma, Rashid Khan. Young Sai Kishore stood among all with his control on a wet ball due to the dew. In the last over, Hardik Pandya(11) got two big hits and perished trying for another. Hence, MI ended up scoring ony 162/9 and lost the match that should’ve been won by them by 6 runs.
Sai Kishore(1/24), Spencer Johnson(2/25), Mohit Sharma(2/32), Azmatullah Omarzai(2/37) and Umesh Yadav(2/31) controlled MI batters in the final 4 overs. Sai Sudarshan got the player of the match but bowlers and catching by fielders helped GT to pull off the carpet under MI. It almost feels like they have pulled off a heist.