North India Statesman
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News India Live, Digital Desk: In the exciting eliminator of IPL 2025 in Mullanpur, five -time champions Mumbai Indians defeated Gujarat Titans by 20 runs to enter the qualifier 2, where they will face Punjab Kings. Despite Sai Sudarshan (80 runs off 49 balls) and Washington Sundar (48 off 24 balls), Titans broke under pressure and lagged behind in chasing a challenging target of 229 runs. Rohit Sharma’s lead and Johnny Bairstow’s bang debut MI scored a huge score of 228/5. The Gujarat team was negligent in fielding and did not show continuity in bowling, due to which it had to give up three catches- two of them were going to give life to Rohit which proved fatal.
Gill’s clear acceptance: “When you leave 3 catches, it does not help”
Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill looked sad after his team was out. He said without any hesitation, “It is not easy for the bowlers to control when we lose three easy wickets and when you do this in a knockout game it does not help,” Gill accepted the presentation after the match.
The Titans entered the playoffs as one of the most consecutive performing teams this season, but their promising campaign disappointed due to two consecutive defeats, including this defeat.
Johnny Bairstow, playing his first match in IPL 2025, left his mark without losing time. The British player scored 47 runs from just 22 balls and the finest bowler of Gujarat scored 26 runs in the same over of the famous Krishna, including three skyscrapers.
Rohit Sharma, who took advantage of two missing occasions on 3 and 12, made Gujarat regret his mistakes by scoring 81 runs off 50 balls. His thought-off attack against Rashid Khan brought Mi to 79/0 in Powerplay, which was his best start in this season.
Subsequently, Mumbai did not lose the rhythm. Suryakumar Yadav (33 runs off 20 balls), Tilak Verma (25 runs off 11 balls) and Hardik Pandya (17 off 5 balls) played a brilliant innings and Mumbai crossed 225 runs in the third consecutive match.
Sudarshan shines, but GT Stayed back a little
It has always been difficult to chase 229 runs in the light with heavy dew. But in IPL 2025, Gujarat star player Sai Sudarshan showed a brilliant and restrained game. His innings of 80 runs in 49 balls, rich in drive and accurate placement, maintained GT even.
When Jaspreet Bumrah threw a great yorker to dismiss Washington and Richard Glison dismissed Sudarshan on a slow ball, the pace changed. The equation came to 24 runs in the final over, but GT’s hopes were tarnished as Glison bowled three best balls before being replaced by Ashwini Kumar despite Hamstring problem.
Gujarat once again upset due to omission in fielding
Gujarat’s fielding has been a matter of concern throughout the season and proved to be expensive in such a big match. Garald Koetzi and Kusal Mendis left Rohit and Surya’s easy catch off the balls, making Mi score a big score.
This was the third consecutive time Gujarat lost 225+ runs – this figure underlines their bowling and fielding problem at the end of the session.
What’s next for Mumbai Indians?
With this victory, Mumbai Indians entered Ahmedabad against Punjab Kings, where he is eyeing Royal Challengers Bangalore to make it to the finals of IPL 2025, which has already confirmed his place with a thrilling victory in qualifier 1.
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