Gujarat Titans Triumph by 36 Runs – Prasidh Krishna Stars!

Mumbai Indians’ habit of being slow starters continues. The franchise is known to lose the first few matches of the season before gaining momentum. This season seems to be no different. Coming to Ahmedabad, Hardik Pandya, the MI captain, asked the Gujarat Titans to bat first. The hosts made full use of it. Shubhman Gill and Sai Sudarshan scored runs at a good clip. They finished the powerplay at 66 for none. Gill was dismissed by Pandya soon after that. But Sudarshan continued and notched up a half-century. He was well complemented by Jos Buttler, who scored a quick 39. A couple of late hits from Sherfane Rutherford took GT to 196 for 8. Captain Hardik Pandya bowled brilliantly as he ended up with the figures of 2 for 29.

In reply, MI lost both their openers cheaply to Mohammed Siraj. Rohit Sharma started off well by striking two consecutive boundaries off Siraj. But he was dismissed on the next ball. Ryan Rickelton was bowled for 6, again by Siraj. Tilak Verma and Suryakumar Yadav tried to steady the MI ship and stitched a partnership. It was the only period where MI looked anywhere close to chasing the target. However, Verma looked scratchy and was dismissed for 39 off 36 balls. Robin Minz was sent ahead of Pandya, but he failed. So did Pandya, as he lost his wicket to Rabada. SKY was dismissed by Prasidh Krishna, who bowled an excellent spell. Krishna was the pick of the bowlers as he ended with the figure 2 for 18. Mumbai Indians lost the match by a sizeable margin of 36 runs.

It was all about bowling good slower ones in the second innings. Prasidh Krishna used the trick to perfection. Overall, Gujarat Titans pacers bowled 32 slower ones and had 3/27 as returns. On the other hand, Mumbai Indians pacers bowled 37 slower ones. But they could get only 1 wicket and gave away 48 runs. Gujarat has now opened their account for the season with a comprehensive win at home.

GT dominate MI:

Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians– 9th Match

Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad

GT 196/8 (20)
MI 160/6 (20)

Gujarat Titans win by 36 runs

Player of the match- Prasidh Krishna

Hardik Pandya

Tough to put it together, 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. 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. 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. On this wicket they (slower deliveries) were the toughest balls, some were shooting, some were bouncing, as batters it becomes difficult. They (GT bowlers) did what I did with the ball.

Shubhman Gill

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. We can all talk about plans but some times it goes your way and it doesn’t. I don’t know, maybe this is the first time he didn’t bowl four overs. I actually kept him for the end but I thought the pacers are bowling well. Prasidh was bowling well so just wanted to use the pacers. It’s going to be good challenge for us.

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