IPL 2023 | Shubman Gill, Rashid Khan Headline Gujarat Titans' Huge Win Over Mumbai Indians
Gill celebrates his 50 against MI (IPLT20.COM)
Brief Score: Gujarat Titans: 207-6 (20) (Shubman Gill 56 (34), David Miller 46 (22); Piyush Chawla 2-34, Arjun Tendulkar 1-9) beat Mumbai Indians: 152-9 (20) (Nehal Wadhera 40 (21), Cameron Green 33 (26), Noor Ahmad 3-37, Rashid Khan 2-27)
Gujarat Titans flattened Mumbai Indians in Ahmedabad to elevate themselves to number two on the IPL 2023 points table. Exhibiting a complete team effort at home, opener Shubman Gill hammered 56 before David Miller, Abhinav Manohar and Rahul Tewatia unleashed finishing fury in the death overs.
Gujarat Titans’ Afghanistan-imported spinners, Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad, finished the demolition job in the Mumbai Indians run-chase, as the defending champions prevailed by 55 runs.
Shubman Gill leads batting charge before finishers come to the fore
After being put into bat first, Titans’ opener Shubman Gill did what he does best: make use of the powerplay with full-blooded stroke-play. The right-hander whacked a boundary-laden 56, his third fifty of the season, as the defending champions raced to 50 within the first six overs despite losing opener Wriddhiman Saha cheaply at the top.
Following Gill’s dismissal in the 12th over, middle-order batters David Miller and Abhinav Manohar launched a fiery six-hitting exhibition at the death. The two explosive finishers, along with IPL cult hero Rahul Tewatia, accounted for 108 runs off just the 48 deliveries they faced together, thus engineering the Titans total to 207-6.
For Mumbai Indians, ace spinner Piyush Chawla struck twice off his four-over spell, while Jason Behrendorff and Riley Meredith claimed a wicket each from their four expensive overs. Arjun Tendulkar turned to be the only bowler who successfully contained Titans’ run-flow, however, the speedster bowled only two overs in the innings.
Afghanistan spinners too good for Mumbai Indians
Mumbai Indians opener Rohit Sharma was caught and bowled by rival skipper Hardik Pandya within the second over. Sharma’s partner Ishan Kishan washed up 21 deliveries to score just 13 in a 208 run-chase, while the rest of the middle-order crumbled in front of a rising asking rate.
Cameron Green and newcomer Nehal Wadhera struck three sixes each to push Mumbai Indians response for a while, before eventually succumbing to a huge 55-run defeat.
Mohammed Shami bowled a sublime opening spell and conceded just 18 off his four overs. Meanwhile, Afghanistan imports Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad shared five wickets between them to sink the five-time winners.
With that loss, Mumbai Indians have suffered their fourth defeat of the season. The Rohit Sharma led side continue to struggle at number 7 in points table.
 "Aakash Saini")
