It was another famous Gujarat Titans victory, in front of a home crowd of over eighty thousand
Alagappan Muthu24-Mar-2024
Keep your eyes on Shubman Gill. The captain. With Mumbai Indians on 107 for 2 after 12 overs, chasing 169, he barracked his team to get back in the game. And boy, did they ever.A batting line-up that is the envy of the T20 world came undone even with conditions pretty much in their favour, with two set batters at the crease and dew all over the park. And Titans, who had less than 8% chance of victory, went on to achieve a famous one. Or maybe it isn’t. Because they keep doing this. They keep defying the odds.Here they had their former captain – the one who built them into IPL winners – give them a huge scare. Hardik Pandya went 6 and 4 to start the last over when 19 were required. He looked in the mood. His old coach Ashish Nehra, who spent a vast majority of the chase patrolling the boundary, issuing instructions – seemingly spoon-feeding Spencer Johnson what he had to do in a 19th over that produced two of the five wickets that fell in the last 13 balls – turned away. He couldn’t watch.But he should have. Because Umesh Yadav, who doesn’t really bowl at the death, took full advantage of the two-bouncers-an-over rule and sent one up at Hardik’s right ear, which, even with his power, only went as far as the fielder at long-on. Eighty thousand and eighty one people roared in unison. They sensed it. They sensed that yet another incredible win was theirs.Pace off, game onThis game turned between overs 13 and 17 in the chase. Because only one of them yielded more than a-run-a-ball.R Sai Kishore, who doesn’t always make the Titans XI but has never come across like he’s been on the outside looking in, produced a very mature performance. He took out Rohit Sharma with some style, slowing his pace right down, pulling his length right back, and having an excellent player of spin so badly reaching for the ball that he fell over in his crease as he played the sweep.Sai Kishore picked up the all-important wicket of Rohit Sharma•BCCI
Rashid Khan took over from there on and created a moment that signalled the shifting of the balance. Mumbai’s best power-hitter, Tim David, was hidden from the strike because he has been averaging 7.6 against legspin since IPL 2022. This was the 17th over and the required rate was still in the eight-and-a-bit range. The batting side had six wickets in hand. They really shouldn’t have been under pressure with an equation like that.But they were and the wickets as a result of that pressure went to Mohit Sharma, who is a wonderful case study because his biggest strength goes against his job description. The fast bowler who is far more dangerous when he bowls his slower ball. That came in very handy on a two-paced pitch. He dismissed David with an offcutter-boucner that rose up to the batter’s helmet and took away all his power.A Titans comeback, which only ever looked fanciful till then, became reality.The story of the first inningsThe Titans innings was a bit staccato. Five of their 20 overs produced five or fewer runs. Four others produced 60 – including 30 back-to-back from the 10th and 11th – and 19 from the 18th over where Luke Wood lost his plans. The field was set for the slower ball, his slower ball went for six, he went for pace, and it was too easy for Rahul Tewatia with third in the circle. A two-paced pitch – which kept low too at times – was creating this kind of game.Gill made a fast start (31 off 22) and Sai Sudharsan (45 off 39) kept away the doubt that fills a batter’s mind when very few of the shots they play go for boundaries. He hit only four and his strike rate was 115 but in between innings he mentioned that the ball was holding up in the pitch and keeping low as well, and that they weren’t too displeased with the total they had got to.Bumrah magic in vainJasprit Bumrah bowled only one of the first six overs and perhaps that’s why they yielded 47 runs. He struck with a glorious yorker thudding into the base of Wriddhiman Saha’s middle stump. This was vintage from perhaps the best cricketer on the planet right now. The most inimitable one anyway.Jasprit Bumrah’s double-wicket 17th over put the brakes on Gujarat Titans’ scoring•BCCI
Bumrah’s dismissal of David Miller contained even more of his genius. He has that awkward action. He has unbelievable pace (for a guy who basically walks for about half his run-up). He has the best yorker in the business. The batter has all this in mind when he takes strike. And is completely unprepared for the slower ball.Miller was done. He was cooked. His body moving one way – because his feet were stuck on the crease, worried about the high-pace ball, maybe the yorker – and his bat moving the other – responding to the utter lack of pace, wandering so far in front of his body – his balance lost to the night. And so too his wicket.Bumrah finished with figures of 4-0-14-3. All of them were one over spells. He was given no opportunity to build rhythm because he can be peak right from the get-go. It was unthinkable at that point that he’d also be needed out there with bat, but you always run the risk of that when you play Titans.