Shubman Gill refuses to bat in rain, argues with umpire after backing away from Jasprit Bumrah, MI pacer not amused

Shubman Gill continued his bittersweet relationship with the on-field umpires in IPL 2025. After having a couple of heated arguments during the Gujarat Titans' last game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gill showed dissent at umpire Kaushik Gandhi and refused to bat as the match officials decided to carry on despite a steady drizzle at the Wankhede Stadium. It started raining one over into GT's 156-run chase on Tuesday but umpires Gandhi and Saidarshan Kumar decided to stay on. They deemed the drizzle not heavy enough to go off.

To be fair to the umpires, it wasn't as heavy in the beginning. GT lost their highest run-getter, Sai Sudharsan, in the second over. The rain intensified slightly but the umpires did not ask the players to go off. A visibly upset Shubman Gill took guard against Jasprit Bumrah in the third over after Jos Buttler took a single.

When Bumrah started his run-up and was just about to deliver the ball, Gill backed away, citing rain and dust. The heavy breeze, accompanied by rain, made it even more difficult for the batters to sight the ball. Gill walked towards the umpire and had a brief chat, requesting he let them go off.

The umpires decided against it and asked Gill to return to the batting crease. The GT captain refused it first but then slowly walked to take his guard. Bumrah was not pleased by the development.

Play continued despite the light drizzle. Gill accepted his fate and concentrated on batting rather than arguing with the umpires. Rain stopped towards the end of the powerplay but returned in the 13th over. The umpires finally decided to ask for he covers at the end of the 14th over when GT were at 107/2 with Gill and Sherfane Rutherford at the crease. They were ahead of the DLS par score by eight runs.

Play resumed after 25 minutes with no overs reduced but MI made a strong comeback through Bumrah, who cleaned up Gill for the 43. Trent Boult trapped Rutherford in front in the next over and Bumrah followed up by dismissing M Shahrukh Khan. In the next over, Ashwani Kumar trapped Rashid Khan LBW for 2. GT lost four quick wickets after the rain break.

Gerald Coetzee ended the over with a boundary but the umpires asked for the covers as the rain got heavier at the end of the 18th over. GT needed 24 off 12 balls with four wickets in hand but more importantly, they were five runs behind the DLS par score.

When everyone thought the match was going in MI's favour, the weather landed the final twist as play resumed for one over with GT getting a revised target of 147. They needed to score 15 runs off six balls.

Rahul Tewatia started the over with a boundary and Coetzee hit a six but the twists and turns were never-ending. With GT needing one off two balls, Coetzee was dismissed by Deeak Chahar. In the last ball, Arshad Khan hit it straight to Hardik Pandya at mid-on and started for a single. The MI captain had a shy at the stumps but missed it. GT held their nerve to win the match by three wickets via DLS method.