A see-sawing game with no shortage of drama went the way of the visitors at Wankhede stadium
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Scorer: Sudeep Poojar | Commentator: Shashwat Kumar
1:01am And...breathe. After a game that began yesterday and stretched for more than five hours. But it was a game worth waiting for. Especially with what was at stake, and especially because how badly both teams wanted to win it. We hope you enjoyed our coverage and we will be back with more IPL action in about 17 hours from now. Until then, from Thilak, Sudeep and myself (Shashwat), this is goodbye!
Shubman Gill, the Gujarat Titans captain is also the Player of the Match: There was a little bit of chaos when we came in to bat after the rain. But always good to have a W (beside your name) after the match. The game plans were definitely different in the powerplay. There was wind and some rain, and it felt like a Test match for the first four or five overs, had to play normal cricket. After the powerplay was over, we tried to play our normal cricket a little more. (How challenging it was keeping an eye on the DLS target) On this wicket, pretty challenging. The wicket was a little bit slow. With rain coming in, shots were not easy to hit through the line. Wanted to rotate strike and go for it if the balls were in our zones. (On the emotions in the dugout during the final rain delay) Lot of emotions. Most of them were frustrating because at one point, we were so ahead. But then four overs of play, 20 runs for four wickets, it felt like one of those Test sessions that do not go your way. Universe gave us another chance, and everything worked out (in the end). A match where it goes till the last ball, every contribution becomes crucial. Sherfane, all the bowlers, the small, small things in the field - those are the moments that make a big difference. Even after a game like this, where it was so chaotic, it is wins like this that gets you through a tournament like the IPL. (On Rashid's bowling) It is not easy coming back from an injury. But the way he has been working hard in the nets and bowled today is a good sign for us. (On qualification) Thoughts like this can creep in but we want to play each game as it comes. We do not want to play for one (first), two (second) or three (third) positions, but about giving our best in every game we play.
Hardik Pandya, Mumbai Indians captain: Yes, definitely (tough way to go down). Fought well with the total we had. Times where we were out of the game, but we pushed as a group. It was a game of margins. It was definitely not a 150-wicket. It was a 175-wicket, we were short by 20-25-30 runs. Credit to the bowlers - they kept fighting, and we could not finish (the job). Catches did not really cost us, but the No balls, with my No balls and even in the last over, in T20s, it is a crime and more often than not, it bites you. Really happy with the boys for giving their 120 percent, ensuring we were in the game and not giving up. The ground, in the first innings, was not wet but post that, throughout, the ball kept getting wetter. Not sure if it helped us or not, it was difficult. Rain kept coming in, not ideal to have stoppages and start again. We had to play a game (in the end) and we definitely did.
Gerald Coetzee: (On his six in the final over) I was just in the see-ball, hit-ball (zone). I thought he (the bowler) was going to go yorkers. The bouncer (that got me out) surprised me. (On if he loves celebrating) Yes, I do. I love to play hard. (GT environment for him) Very good. The environment is really good and relaxed. It looks intense, but it is all planned and very good.
12:41am Oh goodness. What a game. You could search this season through and through, and you may still not find a better one than this. It was not a 200-plays-200 contest, but it was blockbuster. A twist here, a turn there, a dramatic moment here, and then some more theatre somewhere else. And in the end, it all came down to one over. One over of cricket after a rain delay.
Chahar bowled it, and he could not close it out, despite the Titans needing 15. Tewatia first took him for a boundary before Coetzee clubbed him over long off. There was a brief moment of resistance, when Coetzee fell to a short ball but that was soon overridden by the frustration and the sheer despair of a missed direct-hit, which could have taken the game into a Super Over.
Prior to all of that drama, Buttler and Gill had kept GT well in the chase, with Rutherford's cameo also quite useful. But around the rain intervals, the Titans lost the plot, losing wickets in a clump and putting themselves under all sorts of pressure. Bumrah and Boult, two champion cricketers, were protagonists in triggering that collapse. But as the game veered towards the conclusion, MI just could not get the job done. Which may sting, but given how many they had on the board, they will also feel they gave this contest a proper, proper rattle.
Arshad out to face the last ball. No pressure lad! Rickelton has taken a glove off. Everyone up apart from deep square and deep third
G Coetzee c Naman Dhir b Chahar 12 (10m 6b 1x4 1x6) SR: 200
Just two needed now
4 off 3 now. Surely this is GT's game to lose from here?
10 off 4. Coetzee on strike
11 off 5, and this is very familiar territory for Tewatia now. And MI are taking their time again (of course they are)
Nehra was not the first member of a coaching unit to get in the match officials' bad books
Ashish Nehra, the GT coach, was penalised for "conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game" during the rain-interrupted MI vs GT game at Wankhede Stadium
On the Purple Cap leaderboard, Gujarat Titans' Prasidh Krishna has become the first to get to the 20-wicket mark in IPL 2025
For once, GT's high-performing top order left the undercooked middle order with a lot to do, and they came through, with a little help from MI's planning and execution
Did Mumbai Indians miss a trick by handing the ball to Deepak Chahar, and not Hardik Pandya, for the all-important final over?
