27 April,2023 08:15 AM IST | Ahmedabad | Sunil K Vaidya
GT’s Shubman Gill during his 56 v MI at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad yesterday. Pic/AFP
Overcoming middle-over miseries, the big-hitting Gujarat Titans batters exploited the death-over weakness of Mumbai Indians to post a challenging score of 207 for six at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Tuesday. At the time of going to press, MI were 58-3 in 10 overs.
While Mumbai conceded 70 runs in last four overs, the middle-over woes for Gujarat Titans also continued as the Mumbai Indians spinners choked them while chipping away with three key wickets to counter opener Shubman Gill's 56 (36 balls, 7x4,1x6) was a calculated assault and he employed pleasing cricketing shots. Gill was in his element as he stepped out against Piyush Chawla and played some pleasing drives with one eye-catching drive through the covers off Chawla, leaving fans in awe. He was equally elegant while playing wristy shots through the midwicket region.
Chawla, who had conceded only 17 runs in his first three overs, was picked for punishment by Abhinav Manohar (42, 21 balls, 3x4, 3x6), who hit boundaries and danced down the wicket to send him out of the park. That fourth over of Chawla and 15th of the Titans innings, yielded 17 runs, accelerating the home team's run-rate a bit after the slow down in the middle overs.
Also Read: IPL 2023: All-round Gujarat Titans crush Mumbai Indians by 55 runs
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Like in their last match against Punjab Kings, the Mumbai Indians bowlers seemed to be running out of ideas in the death overs. In the 18th over, bowled by Cameron Green, Manohar smacked two sixes. His second six over the long off boundary was a treat to watch. David Miller (46, 22 balls, 2x4, 4x6) further spoiled Green's bowling figures by hitting the third six of the over that cost them 22 runs.
Miller was associated in two fruitful partnerships with a strike-rate of over 200. The big-hitting ability of Miller, Manohar and Tewatia (20, 5 balls, 3x6) saw Titans add 104 runs in 45 balls to cross the 200-mark for the second time in IPL-16.