Live Blog - Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians - Titans pull off a heist

Titans have pulled this off outta nowhere.

They had less than 8% chance of winning at the end of the 12th over.

Then Shubman Gill riled them up. Demanded that they get their game face on.

Four of the five overs between 13 and 17 went for less than a run-a-ball.

That led to five wickets between the 18th to the 20th overs. Even a thunderous Hardik Pandya cameo against his old team wasn't enough to stop this rising tide!

Tilak Varma and Kyle Coetzee follow in the next over to Spencer Johnson. MI need 19 off 6 now.

Towards the end of that spin strangle that Titans were in the middle of, their coach Ashish Nehra was down by the boundary talking to Spencer Johnson, pointing to various fielders on the outfield, basically spoon-feeding him the tactics.

As soon as Tilak fell, caught on the square leg fence, Johnson pointed to Nehra.

Eighty thousand people erupt in Ahmedabad.

Tim David is impossible to bowl to in the death.

But Titans have nailed him. They had him stuck playing spin.

Even the quick bowler Mohit Sharma gives him no pace.

Offcutter after offcutter after offcutter and the last one is a bouncer too. David hooks, but he's not in control of it. Exceptional bowling - that was a proper short ball, coming up to his left ear, giving him no room to free the arms.

This is Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan and Mohit Sharma between overs 13 and 17

As a result, MI now need 36 off 18. Hardik is next in and he's practicing on the edge of the boundary in full kit.

Two of the last three overs (13-15) have produced less than run-a-ball and a wicket of Rohit Sharma, a set batter. Brevis, the other set batter, has faced only seven of those balls. This pitch is difficult for a new batter to come in and suss up. And Titans have some excellent options to exploit the two-paced nature of it. The dew is their major problem, but somehow they're still in this chase and that's credit to the work put in by Sai Kishore, Rashid Khan and now Mohit Sharma. And Gill's been good as captain too.

THE PRESSURE TELLS. BREVIS IS GONE. MOHIT STRIKES! That means three of the last four overs (13-16) have yielded less than a-run-a-ball and the wickets of both set batters. MI's probability of victory has fallen from 92.73% to 67.95%

Shashank Kishore, at the ground: For two full days at training, there was zero evening dew. Tonight, there's been plenty of it. There's also a blanket of haze, perhaps amplified a bit more by the floodlights that run around the roof like a ring of fire. Yet despite dew, Sai Kishore finishes with 1 for 24. Maybe 180 could've challenged MI a bit more.

From Shashank Kishore at the ground: "Shubman Gill is having to strain his vocal chords to grab everyone's attention individually. He's gesturing to them asking for more energy, seemingly annoyed at how flat they've gone on the field."

Rohit gets a life off the last ball of the 12th over, a tough return catch going down with Mohit Sharma having to leave the field to tend to his hand. And then, Rohit falls first ball of the 13th over, lbw to Sai Kishore. He had to reach for the sweep shot so much so that he fell over, losing his balance. That was good bowling, he took the pace off, he shortened the length, he had Rohit going through with the shot too soon and trapped him in front.

Brevis is making up for any limitation in his game with pure power.

He was 18 off 19 having faced Sai Kishore and Rashid Khan for four overs straight.

Then on came Spencer Johnson and out came an astonishing shot, off the back foot, over point, for six.

That seems to have helped him feel a little more comfortable out there. He took Sai Kishore for a six too, even when the bowler had spotted him moving away to the leg side and adjusted his line to try and hide the ball outside off. Brevis reached it and found enough power to clear the rope. Incredible hands.

He's 42 from 30 now. MI need only 62 off 48 balls now.

There's dew around, Hardik predicted that at the toss.

That'll be problematic for both Rashid Khan and Sai Kishore, GT's spinners.

Gill has gone to them because MI's Impact Player, Dewald Brevis, loves pace on the ball. Sai Kishore nearly had him twice - once with a ball that skidded on with the arm and pinned him on the pads, but it was going down, and again later in the same over, when he slowed the pace down, angled it in, and had him hitting against the turn. The leading edge fell safe between point and cover.

The last few years, Rohit has not been able to produce his best in the IPL. Kevin Pietersen on commentary wondered if even that had played a part in the captaincy being taken off him; if Mumbai thought he might perform better without the added pressure. He's India's captain and he showed nothing of that burden in the ODI World Cup when his selfless strokeplay ensured the team always had a great start.

Whether that's had an impact or not, Rohit here has been much more his usual self today. He hit a six that was so gloriously Rohit, picking up a ball on his pads and flicking it with absolute ease, that back leg coming up off the ground as he leant into his shot.

Mumbai seem to have found another one of those diamonds in the rough.

Naman Dhir has walked out and done this to Azmatullah Omarzai.

The six in that sequence was jaw-dropping. He took a good length ball and deposited it into the crowd behind where long-off might have been. That only happens when a player picks length early and fully trusts his game.

But a ball that keeps low eventually ends his fun and signals that this chase won't be straightforward. Omarzai and Titans have two wickets in three overs.

From Shashank Kishore, at the ground: Coming into the IPL, Naman Dhir didn’t have a T20 record to speak of. Four games at Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (India's domestic T20 competition) 2023-24 is hardly a sample size to speak of. He made just 39 runs in those games. Didn’t play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy either. But was scouted from the Sher-e-Punjab T20 Cup, organized by the PCA. He was the second-highest run-scorer there. His 466 runs in 12 innings came at a strike rate of 192. His 30 sixes in the tournament were the highest in the competition.

Ishan Kishan hasn't played anything since November 2023. Slipping down the pecking order for India had a bit of an impact on him. He took a break from cricket for mental health reasons.

His reluctance to play domestic cricket and become eligible for selection again for India put him under further spotlight. He played the DY Patil T20 tournament in Mumbai, which a lot of players do see as prep for the IPL, but didn't turn up for the Ranji Trophy despite a BCCI directive to do so.

The game started with him and his bestie Gill sharing smiles as they walked into the field. His game ends with a duck in the first over. Titans are without Mo Shami this season. Gill has been inventive in trying to compensate for that loss, handing the ball over to Afghanistan's Omarzai and he gets both ways swing. Kishan is trussed up by the inswing first up but falls to the one that goes away. A perfect set up.

The powerplay was evenly shared between the teams, MI bowling 18 dots, GT whacking nine fours.

But since then, any time GT have tried to build momentum, Bumrah in particular, and Coetzee, kept cutting them off. Coetzee was playing his first IPL game, and he excelled bowling the way he always does, trying to be unpredictable. He hits the deck hard. He has a good slower delivery; he used that a lot in the death even though he can bowl 150 kph. It was clever on a pitch that was two-paced. Here are Coetzee's spells.

Struck in his first over, the 12th of the innings, after the 10th and 11th went for 30 runs.

Then bowled the 14th, 16th and 20th overs, tough overs, with Miller and Tewatia and Rashid - GT's finishers were at the crease.

Finishes with 4-0-27-2.

His first over: takes the first wicket

Titans score 30 in 12 balls. He comes back in the 13th over to stop the runs

Miller threatens to break free. He comes back to take him, and Sai Sudharsan out.

Finishes with 4-0-14-3.

All one over spells. No way to build rhythm. Just peak right from the start. 14 dots, and only one boundary (which was actually a mis-hit) given.

How often have we seen this? Titans in trouble. Tewatia at the crease. The game changes.

Luke Wood is the man under attack.

He gets whacked with a slower ball. The field was set for that slower ball, with third man up, but that ball disappears down the ground, over long-off. A calculated risk, and it pays off beautifully

Because Wood loses it a little. He goes on pace. And he gives width. With third up that's easy pickings. Tewatia simply opens the face and lofts it over that fielder TWICE.

Now MI have to abandon the plan they had come up with. Third goes back. Mid-off comes up. And Tewatia goes over mid-off. The over also includes a beamer. And a wide.

Oh that is just pure genius.

He has that awkward action.

He has unbelievable pace (for a guy who basically walks about half his run-up)

He has the best yorker in the business.

The batter has all this in mind when he takes strike against Jasprit Bumrah.

And is completely unprepared for that slower ball.

Miller is done. He is cooked. His body moving one way - because his feet are stuck on the crease, worried about the high-pace ball, maybe the yorker - and his bat moving the other - responding to the utter lack of pace, wandering so far in front of his body - his balance lost to the night. And so is his wicket.

What a bowler.

From Shashank Kishore at the ground: "A dog stops a billion-dollar league and has everyone in splits as it does two laps around the ground. Any effort to stop him was met with a fierce tackle, only for him to run the other way. Eight ground staff, three MI players, reserve umpire and three curators were all in pursuit at one point. None of them were able to stop him. What followed was a laugh riot for three minutes. It gave Sai Sudharsan and Miller some much-needed breather. This is the IPL. You get strategic time-outs even if you don't need it."

David Miller came in during the 12th over. It's gone up to 15 now. And he's faced only six balls. Still to hit a boundary. Check that, he has one now. Crisp drive to the right of short cover off the eighth ball he faces. Very measured, which makes it all the more ominous. Means he's not fussed that Titans have slowed down; that he's confident of where they'll eventually end up.

From Shashank Kishore, at the ground: You couldn't have guessed it if you watched GT train in the lead-up to the game. They sign Shahrukh Khan for INR 7.4 crore, and every little sign points to them bringing him in straightaway, even though their finishing school has Miller, Tewatia and Rashid. Situations like these, are tailor-made for him. But they persist with Vijay Shankar, who has now been held back because they want Miller's firepower. Titans will need to ask themselves if they can afford to have both Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar in the same XI. There's the argument that Vijay offers some seam-ups, but he didn't bowl a single over last year.

Only 15 runs from the start of the 12th over. Bumrah's genius and Coetzee's hard length+skiddy pace having a big say on proceedings. And so does a puppy which bursts onto the field and Hardik Pandya, at the top of his bowling mark, stops to try and get its attention. But it runs away from him. Must be GT/Rohit fan.

From Shashank Kishore, at the ground: "Gerald Coetzee's first act in the IPL: a basic error, not accounting for the spin as he let a boundary through. Coetzee ran all the way to Naman Dhir after the over to offer an apology. As he was returning to take his position, Hardik signalled to him to warm up. He sprinted back to position (like a proper dash) did a few arm rotations, stretches and boom! Strikes in his very first over."

It was a typical Coetzee wicket too followed by the typical Coetzee celebration, all vein popping and fist pumping. It was a cross-seamer bowled into the wicket, which maybe stuck in the pitch a little more than Omarzai expected as he went for the swipe over the leg side.

It looks to be a little difficult to force the ball when there's no pace on it, which might explain why Gill came charging at Chawla and why Mumbai are looking to shuffle through every spin bowling option they have. Naman Dhir is called up for the 10th over, but that doesn't quite go to plan

Titans built on that, showing no interest in going quietly. Azmatullah Omarzai playing his first IPL game wallops MI's wicket-taker Chawla for a straight six even though long-on is back, and he's Tim David, the tallest man on the ground.

Piyush Chawla continues to surprise. He was Mumbai's highest wicket-taker (22) last season - and in the top five over all - at the age of 34. Here he has dismissed the Titan's biggest threat, Shubman Gill, just as he was looking to get serious.

Chawla had transitioned into a commentary career when Mumbai came calling. He worked on his fitness. His skills, it seems, has never left him. He saw Gill advancing. He slowed the pace down, dragged the line out wide, made the batter mis-hit to long-on and then got mobbed underneath a huddle. Mumbai knew how big that strike was. Gill made a century at this very ground that knocked MI out of the IPL 2023 knockouts.

According to our data, MI bowlers had produced three false shots in three whole overs.

Bumrah came on and produced three false shots, including that wicket, in just his one over.

How bout that for impact? They're going to be a hugely different proposition this time just coz they have him back.

18 dot balls in the powerplay, offset by nine boundaries. No one has pulled ahead just yet.

Mumbai were the most expensive fast bowling unit in 2023, when Bumrah was out injured. He's back now. And he looked imperious in the England series. And he's already up to some tricks, bowling that offbreak at 120 kph, which bites into this grassy surface and pops up to hit the sticker of Saha's bat.

The over ends with a searing yorker, from wide of the crease, coming in with the angle, sliding under the bat and crashing into the base of middle stump. Saha beaten for pace a little there.

There's a match up that Mumbai are trying to exploit here - Hardik has dismissed Gill three times in five balls in T20 cricket before today.

But so far, it's Saha taking strike, and Saha is one of the best at the role he does, which is just smash every ball he faces and either score loads of runs really quickly or get out without wasting balls.

Saha has three fours in nine balls.

He said he was fit to bowl and he's going to take the very first opportunity he has to do so.

Hardik Pandya will start proceedings. He has Wriddhiman Saha in his sights.

A partisan crowd absolutely loved that first ball flying away to the point boundary. Loads of light blue flags with the Gujarat Titans logo all round the stadium. It's not quite full - but this is a 130000 seater, it doesn't have to be full to be loud.

Looks like a decent track, says Hardik Pandya, who knows this surface quite well, "Obviously my birthplace is Gujarat." He mentions the success he had with the Titans as well, then picks out the ball his team's gonna use and walks off.

Shubman Gill is drowned out by the noise as he steps up to talk at the toss. He says three players making their debutsfor GT: Umesh, Johnson and Omarzai.

There is a bit of grass on the pitch and the ball could swing a bit under lights, but it won't last. There's runs on offer here.

Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Tim David, Shams Mulani, Gerald Coetzee, Piyush Chala, Jasprit Bumrah, Luke Wood
Subs: Dewald Brevis, Romario Shepherd, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Mohammad Nabi

Gujarat Titans: Wriddhiman Saha, Shubman Gill, Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Umesh Yadav, Sai Kishore, Spencer Johnson
Subs: BR Sharath, Mohit Sharma, Manav Suthar, Abhinav Manohar, Noor Ahmad

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"I don't know if you've looked at the captains photo with the trophy. That's how different it is."

Shubman Gill summed up in one sentence the different vibe to IPL 2024. The greats that we've all come to sort of know and wildly love are nearing the end of their careers, adding just a little extra to the spice that is never in short supply in the IPL.