A clinical display helped Gujarat Titans register a comprehensive 36 run win over Mumbai Indians in their IPL match in Ahmedabad on Saturday, March 29, 2025.
Sent in to bat, GT posted 196 for 8, riding on a 41-ball 63-run knock by opener B Sai Sudharsan and useful contributions from Skipper Shubman Gill (38) and Jos Buttler (39).
In reply, MI could manage just 160 for six in their stipulated 20 overs with Suryakumar Yadav (48) and Tilak Varma (39) scoring bulk of the runs.
Mohammed Siraj (2/34) and Prasidh Krishna (2/18) were the most successful bowlers for GT, while Kagiso Rabada (1/42) and R Sai Kishore (1/37) were also among wickets.
For MI, Captain Hardik Pandya (2/29) took two wickets.
Here's how the bowlers fared in Ahmedabad...
Mohammed Siraj
Siraj is not known to strike in the Powerplay overs in T20s, it is in fact his Achilles Heel. But on Saturday, he turned that stat around with not one strike but two!
Chasing 197 on a wicket that was a bit sticky and not conducive for consistent power-hitting, MI needed a few big runs upfront from veteran Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton.
But Siraj had other plans. In the opening over, after being hit for back-to-back fours off poor deliveries, Siraj made a superb comeback.
He bowled a scramble seam that came back in and beat Rohit's defence to clip the bails have him bowled out for 8.
In his 3rd over, Siraj got his 2nd wicket. A pacey delivery, Rickelton swings as he tries to go for the expansive drive, only to chop it on and send his stumps flying.
Although he went for a few runs, he bowled in the channel and mixed his lengths well. He finished with figures of 2 for 34 in his four overs. Taking out the MI openers put the visitors on the backfoot from the start of the innings.
Prasidh Krishna
The lanky medium pacer was brought in to bowl only in 12th over. He had an understanding of the wicket and used that to his advantage. With the ball gripping, slower balls would come handy and he brought his skills to the fore.
Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma kept MI in the game by rotating the strike and hitting the boundaries when the bad ball came along. The duo kept plugging along and even completed a 50-run stand in the 10th over.
MI's hopes were pinned on this pair and their presence in the middle till the end would have somehow seen Mumbai go over the line.
When Krishna was introduced, SKY and Tilak had already put on a 60-run stand.
Tilak didn't get too many big shots and no runs off the first two balls put him under further pressure.
Krishna then bowled a pace-off delivery, Tilak went for the big shot only for the ball to take flight, Rahul Tewatia then ran to his left and completed a good catch on the slide dismiss Varma for 36 off 28.
Krishna kept it tight, bowled with control and at one time even hit Surya on his helmet.
His smart work gifted him another wicket, taking out the big fish for 48. Again it was the slower ball that did the trick. Slower ball outside off, Surya went for the lofted shot, only to mistime it and get caught at long off.
He came back to bowl the 18th over and gave away 10 runs, but Krishna killed the game when he removed both set batters in SKY and Tilak. MI could never come back in the match after those crucial dismissals. His 2 for 18 came at an average of 4.50!
Sai Kishore
He started from where he left off, where he picked 3 for 30 in the opening game.
The left-arm spinner is known to be a partnership breaker.
But on Saturday, he decided to play the role of run blocker. He bowled tight lines, kept his balls in the good length area to make life hard for MI batters.
Surya took a fancy to him, hitting him for a boundary and two sixes in his 3 overs but there was no real intent from Tilak at the other end.
After Tilak was removed by Krishna, Kishore then took out Robin Minz, who edged the ball to the short third man fielder for 3.
His stingy bowling got the better of Hardik Pandya who came down the track and gave Kishore a stare, the latter replied in kind with a harder stare before Hardik walked back to take strike.
Kishore tightened the noose in the middle overs and finished with figures of 1 for 37 off his four.
Hardik Pandya
The Mumbai Indians captain made an instant impact after bringing himself on.
Gill and Sudharsan got the Titans put on an attacking opening partnership.
Hardik came into the attack in the 7th over and gave just 5 runs.
He bowled with a lot of thought, bowling slower balls and keeping the length full or short, taking as much assistance from the wicket as possible.
In his 3rd over he broke the Gill-Sudarshan partnership.
Pandya dismissed Gill once again -- the fourth time Gill been dismissed by Hardik in the IPL.
Hardik came back to bowl a second and struck with another wicket when Shahrukh Khan chased after the short and wide ball only to be caught in the deep.
At one point, MI were lookng to go past the 200 run mark. But these two dismissals paid to that and Hardik should be given due credit for his bowling smarts.
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