A see-sawing game with no shortage of drama went the way of the visitors at Wankhede stadium

Sidharth Monga06-May-20253:24

Rapid Fire review: Should Hardik have stepped up to bowl the last over?

In a chaotic match laced with rain breaks in the second half, Gujarat Titans (GT) got home by the barest of margins to reach the top of the IPL 2025 points table and end Mumbai Indians’ (MI) six-match winning streak. When it started to rain just before midnight, MI would have thought they had fashioned an improbable comeback. Between two rain breaks, they had taken 4 for 25 to turn GT’s lead of eight on the DLS par score to a deficit of four with two overs to go.Thanks to some excellent work from the groundstaff, the game resumed at the last possible moment, leaving GT 15 to get in one over. Deepak Chahar was hit for a four and a six in the first three balls, then bowled a no-ball, but came back to take a wicket. With one needed off the last ball, MI could still have forced a tie had someone come around to collect the throw from mid-off. Hardik Pandya, who had bowled two no-balls earlier and had decided against bowling the last over, missed with the direct hit, sparking wild celebrations in the GT camp.Related

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Early seamThere was appreciable seam movement for GT to exploit after winning the toss and choosing to field. Mohammed Siraj had Ryan Rickleton caught at short cover second ball, and Arshad Khan troubled Rohit Sharma before getting him out for 7 off 8.Jacks, Suryakumar make GT pay for dropped catchesGT could have shut MI out of the game then and there but they dropped Will Jacks on 0 and 29, and Suryakumar Yadav on 10. Jacks went on to score his first fifty for MI, in just 29 balls, and Suryakumar registered a 12th straight score of 25 or more. Despite some help for the spinners, MI seemed well-placed at 97 for 2 in 10.3 overs.3:29

How Sai Kishore and GT took down Suryakumar Yadav

GT bowlers fight backIt is the strength and depth in the GT bowling that allows their batters to play more conventional cricket than some other teams, and it was on full display in the second half of MI’s innings. R Sai Kishore, who doesn’t always get to bowl, troubled the right-hand-heavy MI middle order before going over the wicket and cramping Suryakumar on an inside-out shot for a catch at long-off. He then responded unerringly to the attacking fields for Hardik, who slogged and top-edged. Between these two wickets, Rashid Khan marked his comeback from 3-0-50-0 in the last match with the wicket of Jacks, having drawn five false shots in nine balls bowled to him.Prasidh Krishna strengthened his grip on the Purple Cap as he and Gerald Coetzee drove home the advantage with a wicket each. Rashid came back to bowl the 18th over for just four. Corbin Bosch hit two sixes in the final over before getting hit on the back of the head, an event that would go on to have implications later in the night.Seam, chaos, dramaThe new ball seamed for MI as well, and they have the bowling to exploit it. Trent Boult beat B Sai Sudharsan first ball and then took his edge second ball, one short of Suryakumar’s tally of 510. The Orange Cap remained on Suryakumar’s head, but two other GT batters reached 500 runs during a testing, chaotic time.Amid heavy wind, Shubman Gill and Jos Buttler were forced to quite literally weather the storm. Jasprit Bumrah and Boult were exceptional, and at 21 for 1 in five overs, the shortest period for this to constitute a match, GT were well behind the par score.3:18

Mumbai collapse shows middle-order vulnerabilities

Tense middle oversBy now, though, it had stopped raining, vindicating the umpires’ decision to not take the players off. Even as Gill struggled to get going, Buttler got GT moving. An 11-ball over from Hardik – two no-balls, three wides – sent GT on their way, but a new twist in the tale was Bosch’s concussion substitute, the left-arm quick Ashwani Kumar.Ashwani conceded just five in his first over, and had Butter caught off the bottom edge in his second.Rutherford puts GT aheadSherfane Rutherford made a comeback to the GT side as the Impact Player, which led to the introduction of Jacks’ part-time spin. GT were five behind the par score, and Rutherford just 1 off 2 when Jacks started said over. Three dots later, GT looked in trouble. Rutherford, though, turned it around with an inside-edged four and two lovely inside-out shots for ten runs. In the next over, he took down Ashwani. GT were now eight ahead of the par score as for the first time rain forced players off the field.3:53

Abhinav Mukund: ‘MI bowlers let the game drift a bit in the middle overs’

Bumrah, Boult bring MI backBumrah had two overs left, and Boult one, when play resumed without any deduction in the overs. Quite incredibly, Bumrah drew seam movement from the old ball to go past Gill, who scored 43 off 46 despite two free hits and a dropped catch, and Shahrukh Khan two balls after he had hit Bumrah for a four. Between these two wickets, Boult skidded one through to get Rutherford out for 28 off 15.Chaos peaksIt is a miracle they got the teams back on for that one over. It was double trouble for MI as their three best bowlers had bowled out, and they now had to bowl with one boundary rider fewer because of their slow over-rate. Chahar struggled to control a ball that got wet with Rahul Tewatia’s hit to the fence first ball. Coetzee smoked a slot ball over long-off to leave them four needed off three. A no-ball made it easier, but a sharp bouncer brought in Arshad to face the last ball.Two mistakes were made by MI. They didn’t position a fielder next to the pitch to jump on to collect a throw, and Suryakumar from short extra cover and the bowler weren’t swift to get to the stumps. Hardik looked up to see if he could throw the ball to someone, he saw no one, and had to shy at the stumps. He missed.