Follow UsFor the second time in as many matches in Ahmedabad, the captain winning the toss opted to bowl. And for the second game running, it was the side that batted first that ended up winning the game.
Mumbai Indians (MI) conceded 196/8 bowling first against Gujarat Titans, but a toothless, intent-less batting showing from the five-time champions saw them fall 36 runs short of the target on a wicket that was slightly two-paced.
Suryakumar Yadav (48 off 28) shone, but no other MI batter found any rhythm as the side slipped to a heavy defeat. A disappointed Hardik Pandya urged his batters to take responsibility and step up.
“At the moment we all need to take responsibility, it's still early stages. Batters have to come to the party, hopefully they do that soon,” Pandya said at the post-match presentation.
Hardik further lamented MI’s sloppy efforts on the field. There were plenty of silly misfields, and also a catch of Jos Buttler that was put down early into the Englishman’s innings.
“I think in batting and bowling we were 15-20 runs short in both places. We were not professional in the field, we made basic errors and that cost us 20-25 runs and in a T20 game that is quite a lot,” Pandya said.
He further credited the duo of Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan for their clinical showing in the powerplay, where they not only negated the early threat but also scored at a brisk rate, managing 66 off the first 6 overs without losing a wicket.
“They (GT openers) batted brilliantly, only a couple of deliveries here and there. They were quite exceptional, they didn't take many chances, they did the right stuff, they were able to get runs without playing many risky shots. We were doing catch-up since then,” the MI skipper said.
The game today was played on a Black Soil surface, and GT captain Shubman Gill revealed that it was planned ‘well in advance’ that GT would throw a black soil surface at Mumbai.
“The decision was taken before the first match that the second match will be played on black soil. Yes that was a factor as well but this wicket suits us. Batting on black soil once the ball gets old it's difficult to clear the boundary so we tried to maximize the powerplay,” Gill said.
MI have a day off before taking on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on March 31 (Monday) in their first home game of the season at the Wankhede Stadium.