NEWS
Follow UsGujarat Titans were at 130/5 at the end of 15 overs. The game still seemed in balance. Then, we saw carnage. Mumbai Indians conceded 77 runs in the final five overs, helping GT reach a daunting 207.
"It's a little disappointing. We pretty much had control of the game till the last few overs when we went for too many runs. It's just about execution. We need to execute what's right, who are the batsmen, those kind of things. But in the end we didn't do that and gave too many runs. You've got to look at every team has very different strengths," Rohit Sharma said.
In pursuit of the high target, their batters didn't really get off to a solid start. At the end of their powerplay, they were reeling behind at 29/1 after their six overs.
"We have a strong batting lineup to achieve the target. Today our batting couldn't get going. There's a lot of dew as well so if we had batted well then maybe we would have chased it. But we didn't start well and you don't do that when you are chasing 200-plus," the MI skipper added.
The GT skipper, Hardik Pandya, was very frank about his captaincy. He felt that being instinctive comes naturally to him, and he sticks to just that.
"In captaincy, I take the call in the moment rather than pre-planned. Captaincy is something where I just always bounce my instinct. Me and Ashu Pa have a very similar mindset and 99% of the times we back our calls and they are similar calls. Today bowling Rashid and Noor - we knew we can take off pace against batters like Green and David who like pace on the ball," he said.
Abhinav Manohar's 42 (21) was exactly the kind of knock he is known to play. Without taking much time, he went after, both, spinners and pacers. The innings also got him his first POTM in IPL.
"It's pure hard work, the amount of balls Abhinav hits in the nets and credits to the support staff as well. Last year we spoke to him and this year so far he has been hitting it the best in the team. We are very happy and looking forward to more innings like that," Hardik added.
