A superb assault in the slog overs by Abhinav Manohar, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia helped Gujarat Titans crush Mumbai Indians by 55 runs on Tuesday and join Chennai Super Kings at the top of the IPL table with 10 points.
After posting their highest total of 207/5 at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, the defending champions restricted MI to 152/9. Titans’ Afghanistan spin duo of Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad were the pick of their bowlers, sharing five wickets to reduce Mumbai to 93/6 and end the game as a contest by the 13th over.
But the deciding factor was how well Titans accelerated in the last 24 balls. From 137/4 in 16 overs, Manohar, Miller and Tewatia combined to add 70 runs in the last four overs, leaving MI a mountain to climb for victory.
Miller smashed 46 off 22 balls, Tewatia came in the end and chipped in with 20 not out off five balls (3×6). While Miller and Tewatia are specialists in the role, it was Manohar who proved the surprise package. Last season, the 28-year-old from Karnataka had announced his arrival with a 28-ball 43 versus Rajasthan Royals. On Tuesday, he provided further proof of his ability to demolish attacks with a 21-ball 42 (3×4, 3×6). He was the dominant partner in a 71-run (35 balls) association with Miller for the fifth wicket — left-hander Miller contributing only 28 runs in it.
The way he targetted Mumbai’s seasoned leg-spinner Piyush Chawla made for impressive watching. The stocky bowler was superb in his first three overs. Manohar was the only one to come out and dominate, smashing the leg-spinner for two fours and a six in his last over, the 15th of the innings, to give GT momentum before the slog overs.
After taking 13 runs in the 16th over, the GT No 6 started the assault with two sixes off Cameron Green off the first two balls as Titans scored 22 runs to jump to 172/4. He got out on the first ball of the 19th over, but there was no respite as 19 more runs were collected. Tewatia smashed the first ball he faced for six and Miller smashed two more, taking the total to 191.
After left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff started the final over with a wide, Tewatia smashed the first two balls for six to bring up the 200. “I went in when a few wickets fell so Ashu pa (coach Nehra) told me to carry on for three and we knew we could make up for the runs in the end because we have the firepower. And it paid off. There was an effort to get more runs in the middle overs and Hardik also said if we can go after their main bowlers like Chawla,” said Manohar.
The platform for the GT innings was set by Shubman Gill with another sublime knock of 34-ball 56. To add to the pressure, Mumbai got off to a dismal start. Skipper Hardik Pandya struck a massive blow by getting his counterpart, Rohit Sharma, in the second over. The visitors could manage just two boundary hits in the first six overs and were 29/1 at the end of powerplay.
Titans spinners, Rashid and Noor, then ran through the middle-order to extinguish Mumbai’s hopes.
Brief Scores:
GT 207/6 (S Gill 56, D Miller 46, P Chawla 2/34); MI 152/9 (N Wadhera 40, R Khan 2/27, Noor Ahmad 3/37, M Sharma 2/38). GT won by 55 runs.