MATCH STORIES
Follow UsDeath, taxes, and Mumbai Indians losing their first game of the Indian Premier League season. They haven’t won their first match of the tournament since 2013, but with 43 runs needed from five overs and seven wickets in hand, it looked like the streak would end against Gujarat Titans on March 24 (Sunday). But not all streaks are meant to be broken and MI found out the hard way.
This was their best chance. Jasprit Bumrah (3/14) and Gerald Coetzee (2/27) had already restricted the Titans to a below-par total (168/6) at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. Rohit Sharma (43 off 29), Naman Dhir (20 off 10) and Dewald Brevis (46 off 38) made things even easier, keeping the required rate well under control.
Also read: Jasprit Bumrah - Mumbai Indians' go-to solution to every bowling problem
On top of that, MI batters had to deal with the likes of Mohit Sharma, Spencer Johnson and Umesh Yadav in the last five overs. Rashid Khan had one over left but the required rate was such that they could have easily played him out. Everything was in Mumbai’s favour, however, they still found a way to mess up a straightforward chase.
GT’s new skipper, Shubman Gill, handed the duty of bowling the 16th over to Mohit Sharma who had already leaked 19 runs in his two overs. The right-arm seamer had a stellar last season, plying the same role, but not many were expecting him to replicate all that success in his first game of the IPL 2024.
Brevis and Tilak Varma were well set but Mohit was up for the challenge. It was pretty evident that the 35-year-old was going to bowl pace-off deliveries and it was precisely that which led to Brevis’s downfall. The young batter from South Africa was undone by the lack of pace and hit one straight back to Mohit who took a sharp catch.
Just four runs from the over but you would still back Mumbai to get 39 off four overs. Gill knew he had to take the game deep and decided to bowl out Rashid Khan. FYI, Hardik Pandya was still waiting in the dugout, with Tilak and Tim David in the middle. The latter doesn’t have a great record against the legspinner, so Tilak decided to play out the over all by himself.
David had almost mistimed a slog-sweep to deep mid-wicket, so Tilak denied a single off the next delivery. The left-hander even tried a reverse sweep, but all Mumbai could manage only three singles from that over. You could understand why they didn’t take extra risk in Rashid’s over, with Mohit, Johnson and Umesh to bowl the last three overs.
0, wd, 4, 2, 2 and 0 - nine runs off Mohit’s first five deliveries. David was eager to finish the over with a maximum but Mohit once again brought out his slower delivery, got a bit of extra bounce and the big man from Australia mistimed it towards deep mid-wicket. David Miller came charging in and dived in front to complete the catch.
Then came the box-office moment. Hardik came out to bat and was greeted with booes from the Ahmedabad crowd. The same crowd that adored him in the last two seasons. He was already booed enough in the first innings, having over bowled himself and ending with figures of 0/30 in three overs. Coming back to the chase, Mumbai had 27 to get from two overs and Tilak whacked Johnson’s first delivery out of the park.
23 runs in 1.1 overs - the Australian paceman wasn’t having a great IPL debut. However, it all turned around in the next five deliveries. With just two runs and the wickets of Tilak and Gerald Coetzee, Johnson redeemed himself in some fashion. Everything was happening at one end, while Hardik was unbeaten on 1 at the non-striker’s end.
19 off 6, but Umesh to bowl the final over. Someone who has never been known for his death bowling. This was Hardik’s moment to silence the crowd and prove his worth not just as captain but also as a finisher. A back-of-a-length delivery was smacked for a six over cover. The very next delivery was slapped through the same region for four. Just nine off four now.
Pressure was on Umesh and the 36-year-old once again went short and quick. This time around, Hardik didn’t get the right connection and got caught at long-on. Got the expected send-off from the crowd. Shams Mulani and Bumrah couldn’t clear the ground and Gujarat managed to pull off a six-run heist.
“Obviously, we backed ourselves to chase those 43 runs (in the last five overs) but it was one of those days when we see the score quite less compared to what it could have been in five overs. I think we lost a little bit of momentum there,” said Hardik after the defeat.
The stage was set for Hardik and Mumbai Indians to stand tall at the Narendra Modi Stadium but Ashish Nehra and his men said not today and definitely not here in Ahmedabad.
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