Ahmedabad, Mar 25: Hardik Pandya’s comeback to the Narendra Modi Stadium was spoiled by the Shubman Gill-led Gujarat Titans who inched past the five-time champions by six runs in a last over thrilling finish in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Making his return to IPL cricket for the first time since 2022, Jasprit Bumrah produced one his IPL specials as he snapped three wickets for Mumbai to help restrict Gujarat to 168/6 from their 20 overs. Making his debut for MI, Gerald Coetzee also struck twice. For GT, Sai Sudharsan was the leading scorer with 45 runs off 29 deliveries.
Sai Sudharsan, Player of the Match, said, I feel even in the first innings it was slightly difficult and second innings because of the dew they were able to play a few shots, but we pulled off a great game today. I am just taking it as an extra opportunity to try and win a game for my team. After a few balls, I felt this is that kind of a wicket where you can go hard everywhere and wanted to build on the momentum. Too many great contributions in the second innings and I am actually shocked to be receiving this award. As a batter, I found it tough when they took the pace off and our bowlers executed really well today.
Shubhman Gill, GT skipper, said, The way the boys held their nerves with dew coming in, it was outstanding. The way our spinners bowled made sure we are always in the game. It’s all about holding your nerves. He (Sai Sudharsan) has been a revelation for us. We just wanted to build on the pressure and wait for them to make mistakes. The crowd is one thing, have always come whether it is a day game or a night game and shout out to all the fans who have come here to support us. I thought that was a good score, but we definitely left at least 15 runs there, it was hard to hit those short balls as the wicket got a bit slow towards the end.
Hardik Pandya, MI captain, said, Obviously we backed ourselves to chase those 42 runs but it was one of those days when we see the score quite less compared to what it could have been in five overs, I think we lost little bit of momentum there. It feels good to be back because this is one stadium where you can enjoy and feel the atmosphere quite lively and obviously the crowd was full and they got a good game as well. (On Tilak not taking the single vs Rashid) I think Tilak felt that that was a better idea at that point of time, I completely back him, not an issue, 13 games to go.).