Sams defends eight in last over after Rohit, David knocks
Gujarat Titans fell short in the last over and lost their second game in a row
Gujarat Titans fell short in the last over and lost their second game in a row
Scorer: Venkat Raghav | Commentator: Ekanth
11:47 pm: That game was like a noir movie that started slow, got exciting, had its ups and downs, looked like it was ending on an underwhelming note. But in the end, twists and turns meant there was a satisfying finish. We hope you enjoyed the coverage here on ESPNcricinfo, there will be reports and analysis on the game. Check them out. For now, on behalf of my fellow commentator, Debayan Sen, and our scorer, M Venkat Raghav, this is Ekanth, signing off. Take care.
Harmin: "So GT can score 25 runs in last over against top quality bowling unit but fails to even score 9 runs against weak bowling unit :)"
Declan: "I don't get it at 19.3. If Tewatia played 19.3, they scored 1, how come Miller was not on strike for 19.4 ?" The throw came at the striker's end as Tewatia came back for the second run. He got run-out on the crease, so they had crossed over.
Jai: "So. Are we saying Rohit is a good captain now? Was he bad when dhoni took apart unadkat in the other game ? MI could have won that one too . It's about match ups , but ultimately to the individual player to execute ." The earlier comments on the captain being as good as the team was rational. Judging captaincy based on one or two games is risky. Inferring the nous in decision making of a captain based on results, skills of the players, and situations over a long period makes more sense. But it is tempting to have polarized views. Sadly, there is no rule, tactic, or strategy that is the be-all and end-all.
Srikanth : "Sams is the MOM for me, an outstanding effort in the last over. Giving just 3 runs, when Boom boom conceded 11 runs to the same batsmen.."
Tim David, POTM for his 44* (21): Given the context, my innings feels great. It was a great wicket, so I thought I missed out to get a few more in the last over. But kudos to our bowlers who did well to finish it off. The wickets was slightly two paced but it was a great pitch. Batters could get in and go big. Sitting out and watching your teammates lose is not ideal, you always want to practice and be ready.
Rohit Sharma, Mumbai Indians Captain: It was tight towards the back end, very satisfying as we were looking for this. Luck had to turn in to our favour, we will take this with both hands. We were 15-20 short, they bowled well. Tim David played really well. Dew came in, good pitch and lightning outfield meant things were in their favour, credit to our bowlers who finished the job. Lots of factors need to be considered on bowling changes, I felt they like pace coming on to the bat, so we wanted to take that off. The boys pulled it off, which is great. We wanted to take one game at a time, we know we have not played our best cricket, but that happens. Lot of credit to the bowlers at the back end, I want the boys to come out and do what they want to do. (On Sams) He was under the pump in a couple of games, but I have seen him for Australia and in the BBL, he has a lot of skill. It was not easy to defend 9 runs.
Vinay Goyal: "Everybody talked of revenge match-ups like Warner vs SRH, Rashid vs SRH but today MI took revenge against GT for snatching Hardik from them!!!!"
Mahesh: "Hardik's wicket was the turning point. He should have finished the game."
Akrsh: "Anymore comments on captaincy!?! "
Nick: "Today 'SLOG-over luck' was against Gujarat. 1 hit wicket , 2 'on the line' runouts.:("
Ashith: "No statistical algo's including cricinfo's MVP will be able to do justice to Sams' contribution!" Yep, an outstanding outlier. Will he be the POTM?
Afeef: "Conceding only 3 runs in the final over against the best chasing team of the season is truly something special, hats off to Sams."
It was GT's game to lose and they did! The hit-wicket, the run-outs, the swings and misses, everything now needs to be looked back with a different lens. The butterfly effect will have us second-guessing the effects every event, the major talking points are Pollard's innings, Sams' last over, and Miller's inability to execute big shots in the last over. But this chase started serenely for Gujarat Titans, as they cruised to 106, after Saha took-off and Gill followed suit. Sai Sudharshan and Hardik Pandya kept the tempo for finishing touches to be applied, but GT couldn't. M Ashwin's two wickets in the middle were crucial as Jasprit was uncharacteristically taken apart, Pollard's overs on paper look excellent. But the game was won and lost in the last overs, how many is up to the argument made.
Stat from Sampath: Only the fifth time in the IPL, the chasing team lost despite a century opening stand
Daniel Sams, 3 overs off the final over: Awesome we got over the line, it went back and forward. Must have been great for the fans to watch. 9 off 6 made me feel I have nothing to lose and the odds are in the batter's favour. I got a few wide balls in the tramline and managed to execute it well. My intent was to stick to the best balls I could bowl, the slower one is the ball I go back to and it paid off. We did not have the start we wanted, after the 8 losses, we looked it as a mini-IPL with 6 games. We are trying to show what we can do and were able to pull it off which helps our confidence.
Hardik Pandya, GT Captain: On any day, we'd take 9 off the last over. The two run-outs cost us the game. I think batters let us down. IN T20s, you can't lose back to back games. No blame games as we have cleared such games. We have made rookie mistakes which cost us this one. We played good cricket for 19.2 overs in our innings, one or two hits would have made a difference. We should not have let it come down to the last over. I think bowlers did a fantastic job by putting pressure and pull it back to 170, as they were on the way to 200.
11:19 pm: Just three off the last over from Sams! As Graeme Swann reminds us, Tim David rejected change of strike, he scored two sixes and that is the length of the bridge that made it too far.
After a conference, the bowler comes in
Rashid in.
R Tewatia run out 3 (15m 4b 0x4 0x6) SR: 75.00
Debayan wants this to go to the last ball, can Sams take this deep?
Sams will start the final over, from over the wicket
"I noticed that in those two games [early in the season], I wasn't really committing to what I do really well. I was more thinking about the batter," says Mumbai allrounder
Gujarat Titans fell short in the last over and lost their second game in a row
The 24-year old left-arm spinner from Uttar Pradesh has had to cross thousands of hurdles to fulfill his dream of playing cricket
After the veteran scratched around, his mind seemingly clouded, Mumbai Indians' new recruit was all poise and confidence as he fashioned a late flourish
For Titans, it will be about how they gather themselves back after a batting failure