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And so, we come to the end of our coverage of the 2024 Indian Premier League for the day. The premise has been set for the next couple of months - we'll have a dose of this extravaganza every evening over the summer! The following week will start with a clash between the Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the Punjab Kings - do tune in to Sportskeeda for our live coverage of the same, and of course, a lot more over the course of the day! This is Rajarshi Das, signing off on behalf of Pragadeesh Shanmugan. Good night - see you tomorrow!
The Mumbai Indians are reputed to be slow starters. They maintain their tradition as the IPL rolls onto its 17th season - the last time MI won their opening game was 12 years ago. Well... they've laid their hands on that IPL trophy 5 times ever since - they've had worse starts to their IPL campaigns, but Mumbai Indians are one team you never, ever count out. The Titans were given a tough fight, but the 2022 IPL winners triumphed in the end. They never really game the Mumbai Indians that big over they needed to get ahead of proceedings - it was a complete team effort from the Titans bowling unit. They get the job done - the margin of victory being 6 runs. Both sides will travel to the south of India for their upcoming matches - the Titans will head to Chennai for a clash against another 5-time IPL champion side in the Chennai Super Kings, and the Mumbai Indians' next assignment will be against the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium.
Bhardwaj Sai Sudharsan has been adjudged the Player Of The Match! Here's what he has to say: I feel even in the first innings, the wicket was difficult, slow in the start, but a little bit of dew helped them go after the bowlers. I feel we pulled off a great game today. It's an extra opportunity for me to express and make my team win. I'm thinking on those lines and working on helping my team win, every day. After a few balls, I felt it wasn't a wicket where you go after the ball every time, building the game was more important. I was a bit shocked about the player of the match, because there were plenty of contributions in the second innings as well. They pulled off a great game today, I think this'll help us better. Taking the pace off the wicket helped, as a batsman, I found it difficult when they took the pace off. Our bowlers adapted to the situation really well and executed accordingly.
Shubman Gill, Gujarat Titans captain: The way the boys held their nerves and how we bowled at the death was magnificent, especially with the dew coming in. Was outstanding. There was a lot of dew, even with it the way our spinners bowled, especially Rashid and Sai, they made sure we were in the game always. It was all about putting the pressure and holding our nerves in the end. He (Mohit Sharma) has been a revelation for us, especially the last year when he came in. He's continuing his form and hopefully he gives us some more matches like this. We just wanted to give them a bit of pressure, that was the talk in the middle. The crowd is one thing that has always come - irrespective of a day or night game. Shoutout to all the fans who came to support us. I thought 170 was a good score, but we let 15 runs out there. They were also going well and the score was par. It was hard to hit the older balls at the end, with the wicket being slow. That was the reason why we got through in the end.
Spencer Johnson, Gujarat Titans - Full house here and to get a win here is special. I stayed calm and I had Ash at long-off chatting with me. He gave me a belief and told me to win the game for the team. For me what works well is bowling hard length and doesn't panic at the death. Just sticking to what I do well. This is easily the biggest stadium in the world and I always wanted to play in India. The crowd has been fantastic. Shubman was calm and as a young captain, he's been unbelievable. He sat beside me on the bus and he kept me calm
Hardik Pandya (Mumbai Indians captain) - We backed ourselves to chase those 42 but it's one of the days where if we saw the score is less in the last five overs and we lost a little bit of momentum at the back end. It feels good to be back and this is one stadium where you enjoy and feel the atmosphere quite lively. (On Tilak Varma keeping David off strike against Rashid) Tilak felt that was right and I back him. That wasn't an issue.
Match summary:
Gujarat Titans win by 6 runs
Bhardwaj Sai Sudharsan 45(39) | Spencer Johnson 2/25 (2) Dewald Brevis 46(38) | Jasprit Bumrah 3/14 (4)
As dramatic a game as they come! Much like the game, the conditions at the Narendra Modi Stadium are always unpredictable, and that was the case once again tonight! There were instances when the ball moved off the air, turned sharply off the deck, skidded on to the batter from a hard length, and as it turned out, the Gujarat Giants just about had enough runs to register their first victory in the 2024 Indian Premier League!
Azmatullah Omarzai ensured that Hardik Pandya's absence amongst the Titans camp wasn't missed - at least with the ball in hand. He got the ball to move prodigiously in the powerplay, bowling three overs on the trot, and while he took a tap off Naman Dhir, Omarzai nipped him out eventually, having accounted for Ishan Kishan in the first over with an away-swinger.
Rohit Sharma and Dewald Brevis proceeded to steady the ship and ease the nerves in the MI dugout. Both batters looked positive with their intent, and while Rashid Khan and Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore stemmed the flow of runs momentarily, the odd-boundary ball came along every now and then, and both batters latched onto them with success.
Spencer Johnson's introduction into the attack opened the floodgates for the Mumbai Indians in those middle overs. 17 came off the left-arm speedster's first over as Brevis and Rohit feasted upon the width on offer. The duo kept things going until Sai Kishore was rewarded with the prized scalp of Rohit Sharma, trapping him in front with a flatter, fuller one as Rohit missed out looking to sweep.
Brevis, joined by Tilak Varma, was intent on taking his side home, but once Mohit held him off his own bowling, the tide began shifting towards the home side. Rashid's miserly 4th over left the Titans with 36 to defend off the last three, and the wickets began falling in a cluster as David, Tilak Varma and Gerald Coetzee all holed out. Hardik Pandya was faced with gunning 19 down off the last over - he hit 10 of those in the first two before being outdone by Umesh Yadav. The game was up right there - Umesh picked up Piyush Chawla the next ball, and closed the game out successfully. Presentations to follow...
The Gujarat Titans prevail in a truly high-voltage clash! There were ebbs, there were flows, but at the end of 40 overs, it is the 2022 IPL champions who prevail!
20
overs
162/9score
6
4
W
W
1
1
runs
Shams Mulani*
1(1)
Jasprit Bumrah
1(1)
Umesh Yadav
2/31
19.6 Umesh Yadav to Shams Mulani, WHAT A VICTORY FOR THE GIANTS! They edge past Mumbai in the edge- of-the-seat thriller. Look at the celebration in the middle. The Mumbai dugout looked stunned as they had the game under control until the 15th over. But Gujarat were excellent at the death. Finishes the last delivery with the bumper outside leg-stump, Mulani pulls and it goes straight up to fine leg. Sai Kishore allows the ball to bounce and joins the celebration in the middle