Ahmedabad: A half-century from Subuman Gill (56 off 34) followed by a late onslaught by David Miller and Abhinav Manohar in the death overs guided Gujarat Titans to 207/6 against Mumbai Indians (MI) in their IPL 2023 match here at Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday.
Even after Gill’s fifty, Piyush Chawla and Kumar Karthikeya struck in the middle overs and pegged the Titans back but failed to ride the momentum. Manohar (42 off 21) and Miller (46 off 22) turned the tables with a 71-run partnership, while Rahul Tewatia gave the finishing touches with his unbeaten 20 off 5 as GT set a massive target for MI.
GT had a quiet start as they lost opener Wriddhiman Saha early. Disciplined bowling from Arjun Tendulkar and Jason Behrendorff kept the batters quiet as the visitors managed to get just three boundaries in the first five overs.
Then, Shubman Gill shifted gears in the sixth over, hitting Cameron Green for back-to-back boundaries, followed by a six on the next ball and MI reached 50/1 in the Power-play.
After bowling a brilliant opening over, Arjun Tendulkar struck in the third over to remove Saha, who looked to pull it but missed as Ishan Kishan pouched it behind the stumps. Tendulkar made a loud appeal and the finger went up. Saha looked upset and went upstairs. But Ultra Edge showed a spike and MI got a breakthrough.
After an expensive sixth over, MI turned the screws as Chawla sent packing skipper Hardik Pandya for 13. Pandya lofted towards long on but failed to get the necessary elevation and Suryakumar Yadav took a sharp catch above his head.
After a few overs, Vijay Shankar smashed Kartikeya for four and a maximum on successive deliveries. Then, Gill collected a boundary and completed his 17th IPL fifty with a single off 30 balls and GT were 84/2 at the halfway stage of the innings.
An over later, Kartikeya provided MI with the much-needed breakthrough as he got dangerman Gill for 56. The opener looked to heave it but didn’t get the power right. The ball was carried toward deep mid-wicket where SKY settled under it and made no mistake.
Then, Chawla piled further misery on the Titans as he sent Shankar back to the hut for 19. Manohar hammered two boundaries and a six off Chawla in the 15th over to give the much-needed acceleration to the run rate.
In the 18th over, first Manohar took Green to the cleaners by smashing him for back-to-back sixes, then Miller joined the six-hitting party with a maximum off the last delivery, taking 22 off the over.
Miller and Manohar accelerated the innings with their hits and the duo collected 42 runs in the next three overs and stitched a stunning 71-run partnership off 35 balls, which Meredith broke in the next over as he trapped Manoher with his full toss. But Miller and Rahul Tewatia continued the onslaught.
Tewatia came started with a six. Meredith almost got Miller, who mistimed his shot, and Behrendorff ran to his left and got his hands on the ball, but it did not stick and landed beyond the rope. And Miller finished the penultimate over with another six.
Tewatia began the 20th and final over with back-to-back sixes and a delivery later Behrendorff removed Miller to deny him a half-century and Rashid Khan finished the innings with a double as the Titans posted 207 for the loss of six wickets.
Brief scores:
Gujarat Titans 207/6 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 56, David Miller 46, Abhinav Monahar 42; Piyush Chawla 2-34) against Mumbai Indians
(IANS)
