On a black-soil pitch where 180 was expected to be the par total, Gujarat Titans posted 196 for 8 thanks to a quickfire start from Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan.
Before the start of the season, Gill said he wanted GT to maximise the powerplay; they were the slowest side in that phase last season with a run rate of 7.72. Both Gill and Sudharsan did their best to improve that number and took the side to 66 for no loss after six overs. It was their third-highest powerplay score in the IPL. Both Gill and Sudharsan were on 32 off 18 at that stage.
But MI pulled things back once the field restrictions were relaxed. GT could score only 13 runs from overs seven to nine and also lost Gill to Hardik Pandya. Hardik has now dismissed Gill four times in 18 balls in T20 cricket while giving away only 11 runs.
Jos Buttler ended the boundary drought by hitting Mitchell Santner for a six and a four off successive balls in the tenth over. Buttler fell to Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the 14th over but Sudharsan kept GT going. He brought up his second fifty in as many games, off 33 balls, and took the side to 170 for 3 after 17 overs.
But GT collapsed after that. Trent Boult trapped Sudharsan lbw with a yorker, Rahul Tewatia was run out, and Sherfane Rutherford holed out to deep extra cover. Despite Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada hitting a six each, GT could manage only 26 in the last three.
After the innings, Boult told the commentators that MI wanted to restrict GT under 200, and half the job was done. The dew had started setting in and he expected it to make the chase easier.