3 things Gujarat Titans need to do right to defeat Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023 Qualifier 2
Following their dominating performance against Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL 2023 Eliminator, Mumbai Indians (MI) now take on Gujarat Titans (GT) on Friday Ahmedabad. Both sides will battle it out for a spot in the finals to take on the Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.
Although the defending champions, Titans suffered a setback against the Super Kings in Qualifier 1, they now stand determined to fine-tune certain aspects of their game. Meanwhile, Mumbai appears to be in a favorable position, after their comprehensive wins against Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Here we take a look at three things Gujarat Titans need to do to beat Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023 Qualifier 2:
#3 Control the middle overs
In Mohammed Shami, Gujarat Titans have a gun seamer who invariably picks up wickets in the first six overs. However, Gujarat will need to be wary of the middle overs when Mumbai Indians display their aggressive intent. In Suryakumar Yadav, Cameron Green, Tilak Varma, and Nehal Wadhera, Mumbai has a power-packed middle order, and hence, Gujarat needs to keep striking and control the middle overs.
With the bat too, the likes of Hardik Pandya and David Miller have to stand tall and take up responsibility to shoulder the burden in the middle overs. Shubman Gill is expected to give them the start, but the middle order has to take this forward and set a platform for a late order surge.
#2 Noor Ahmad has to play his part
While Mumbai Indians have not targeted Rashid Khan, they have shown a keen interest in taking on Noor Ahmad in both encounters. In the first match, Noor was able to contain Mumbai and ended with figures of 3 for 37. However, Mumbai were not deterred and went after him in the next match as Noor was hammered for 38 runs off his four overs.
MI have also been very keen to sweep Rashid and the wily spinner needs to be smart with his lengths, especially against Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma. Ishan Kishan too prefers to get down low and smack him away over mid-wicket. This battle could be very promising.
#1 The Josh Little conundrum
There have been a few injury concerns with Josh Little, but he seems to be fit. However, Gujarat Titans have consistently opted for the Dasun Shanaka-Yash Dayal/Darshan Nalkande combination, primarily to provide a reliable bowling option. Hardik Pandya is not too keen to bowl these days and hence, Shanaka makes his place.
However, they can opt for Josh Little in this match considering the fact that he gets the ball to shape back into right-handers. As such, they can still use Yash Dayal as an impact player swapping him with the likes of either Abhinav Manohar or Sai Sudarshan in this match.