Sudharsan, Krishna shine as GT hand MI second defeat in a row

MUMBAI: Gujarat Titans built on dream starts in both batting and bowling to beat Mumbai Indians by 36 runs in a lop-sided IPL match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Asked to bat first on home turf, GT openers Shubman Gill (38-27 balls) and Sai Sudarshan (63 - 41b, 4x4, 2x6) put on a fluent partnership of 78 (8.3 overs) to lay the foundation of their 196-run total. Pacer Mohammed Siraj then produced a dream delivery in his first over to dismiss MI talisman Rohit Sharma. After being hit for two boundaries, Siraj produced a cracker of a delivery, getting the ball to move in after pitching to cut through Rohit’s defence to hit middle-stump. Breathing fire, Siraj then sent left-handed opener Ryan Rickelton’s off-stump cartwheeling in the fifth over, bowled off an inside edge.

Pushed back by the twin strikes, MI’s powerplay never took off, 48/2, compared to GT’s start of 66/0 in six overs. GT scored 196/8 and restricted MI to 160/6.

Suryakumar Yadav showed signs of returning to form with an innings of 48 (28b- 1x4, 4x6). Along with Tilak Varma he helped MI stage a recovery with a 62-run third wicket partnership but it wasn’t enough. When captain Hardik Pandya came out in the middle at No.6, MI needed 89 off 42 balls.

GT bowlers Prasidh Krishna and Sai Kishore didn’t give anything away as they built more pressure. Prasidh Krishna was excellent, picking up the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav on the total of 120 to deliver the knock-out punch during a spell of 4-0-18-2. The MI captain, who had bowled well, had a forgettable outing with the bat, struggling to 11 off 17 balls on a slow pitch.

With the win, GT opened their account in IPL 2025 while it was MI’s second straight defeat after the loss to CSK.

The game was off to an absorbing start with MI opening with their experienced swing bowlers Trent Boult and Deepak Chahar. Captain Gill and his opening partner Sai Sudharsan were equal to the challenge, countering the threat of the new-ball operators. Aware that playing from the crease against such disciplined operators would get them nowhere, the two unsettled Boult and Chahar by looking to advance towards the ball and play strokes down the ground. Both raced to identical scores of 32 not out (18 balls) at the end of the Powerplay to build a strong foundation for the GT innings.

What would have given the two young batters a lot of satisfaction is they were hard fought runs. Batting got difficult after the end of the field restrictions as Pandya led MI’s fightback. Returning to the side after missing the first game due to a carried over suspension, he was MI’s best bowler and bagged two important wickets. He provided the big breakthrough by having Gill caught at deep square-leg playing the pull shot. It was the fourth time Pandya had dismissed Gill in 18 balls in IPL.

MI’s bid to consolidate however was repulsed by Jos Buttler (39- 24b). Buttler fell in the 14th over but at the start of the slog overs, GT had wickets in hand.

After 17 overs they were 170/3. Wickets at the death though saved MI 10-15 runs. Boult and Chahar are not designated slog overs bowlers but delivered on Saturday. In the 18th over, Boult conceded just nine and yorked Sai Sudharshan for figures of 4-0-34-1. In the penultimate over, Chahar removed the dangerous Sherfane Rutherford, caught at long-on, conceding just seven runs with two wickets (one run out). Pandya trusted Satyanarayana Raju with the last over and the inexperienced youngster held his nerves. He conceded just 10 runs in a two-wicket over (one run-out), denying GT a strong finish.