Sams the man

Mumbai Indians pacer Daniel says his focus was on delivering his best balls as Rohit & Co defend nine runs in the final over to win by five runs against Gujarat Titans

With 40 needed off the last four overs and with skipper Hardik Pandya and David Miller in the middle, Gujarat Titans (138-3 after 16 overs) wouldn’t be blamed for fancying their chances against Mumbai Indians. But GT messed up their chase to lose by five runs at the Brabourne Stadium on Friday night. 

Jasprit Bumrah had two overs in his kitty while Riley Meredith had one. MI skipper Rohit Sharma took a major risk to bowl out his most trusted bowlers for Over numbers 17, 18 and 19.

Ex-Mumbai Ranji Trophy captain Shishir Hattangadi reviews MI’s win against Gujarat Titans in mid-day’s digital edition

Bumrah, who had conceded 26 off his first two overs, bowled the 17th over, giving away 11 runs. 

Meredith conceded nine runs, but MI managed to run out Pandya for 24. Bumrah again conceded 11 runs to bring the equation to nine off the final over. 

Rohit’s gamble pays off

After some deliberation, Rohit threw the ball to Daniel Sams, who had given away just 15 runs in his first two overs. It was a gutsy decision from Rohit considering Sams had conceded 35 runs in a single over against KKR as Pat Cummins raced to the joint-fastest IPL fifty on April 6. The match finished in the 16th over itself. 
 
Sams did magnificently to keep his calm under pressure. “For the last two games, I have been actually calm. I was nervous earlier in the tournament,” Sams told reporters at the virtual post-match conference after restricting GT to 172-5. 

Rahul Tewatia’s run out on the third ball off the final over put MI in the driver’s seat. “It was one of those things that we talked if you are going to bowl wide, if you [the batsmen] are going to miss, then bowl wide. Don’t bowl on the other side of the white line because then there is every chance that the batter can hit it for a six. So we rather go for a wide because there is every chance that the batter might not hit it and you can get away with it,” he explained. Sams kept bowling away to Miller. “I was focusing on what my best ball is and changing the length a little bit. I was trying to bowl a bit away from him, nice and slow,” the Aussie all-rounder said. 

Rashid rues two run-outs 

The match also had its fair share of laxity. The super swiftness to make the ground was missing in those two run-outs.  GT vice-captain Rashid Khan squarely blamed the two run-outs for the narrow loss. “Hardik and Tewatia’s run-outs were the game-changers. That is the beauty of T20...sometimes you can score nine off two balls and sometimes you fail in scoring nine off six balls. There is a lot to learn, not to repeat the negative things which we did in the last few games,” Rashid said.

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