Gujarat’s Titans captain Shubman Gill said on Saturday that the decision to play an IPL match against Mumbai Indians on a black clay pitch was taken in the hope of keeping a powerful Mi line-up mafled before the tournament started. The plan worked for perfection as the Mumbai batsmen struggled in the 197 chase, ended at 160 for six and suffered a defeat of 36 runs. Gill said in the post-match presentation, “It was decided before the first match that the second match (vs MI) would be played on black soil. Yes, it was also a factor, (MI’s strong batting line-up), but this wicket was favorable to us.”
Gill said that such tracks would make boundary-touching difficult, as MI Big-Hitters like Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Verma found.
He said, “Batting on black soil, the ball becomes old once, it is difficult to clean the border, so we tried to maximize the power play. We can talk about all the plans, but sometimes it goes in your way and sometimes it does not happen,” he said.
Passion, with a good job, star spinner Rashid Khan bowled just two overs.
“I don’t know, perhaps this is the first time he did not bowl four overs. I really kept him for the end, but I felt the pacers were bowling well. Prasad was bowling well, so just wanted to use pacers,” he said.
Hardik Pandya, a skipper of Mumbai Indians, barely put “basic errors” in both batting and bowling for his widespread losses against Gujarat Titans (where it had gone wrong). Both the bat and the ball had basic errors, we were not quite professional in the field – this cost is probably 20-25 runs, “said Pandya.
“He (GT Openers) did the right stuff in power play, he did not play high -risk shots, he got enough runs (was playing this way) and put us in the back leg.” Sai Reformson (63) and Gill (38) gave GT a concrete start, giving 78 no damage in 8.2 overs, setting the foundation for a large score.
MI, however, was struggling in the chase, found himself at 35/2. Once Tilak Verma (39) and Suryakumar Yadav (48) returned to the pavilion, their chase was far away.
“The initial phase, but at the same time, the batsmen have to come to the party and hope that they will do it soon,” Pandya said.
India’s all -rounder used his variations to return with 2/29 figures and said the opposition bowlers returned the favor.
“I was just thinking that I bowled a lot of balls, he saw that it was entertaining and they were the most difficult balls to score. When you have this very variable bounce, it becomes difficult as a batsman. He did the same with me (which I did as a bowler).” Gujarat bowlers, especially match player Prasad Krishna bowled a lot of cutters to return with impressive figures of 2/18, including the wickets of Tilak and Suryakumar.
The match was also part of the play when Pandya was involved in a warm performance with GT spinner R Sai Kishore in the 15th over of MI’s chase. However, both hugged a warm neck after the match.
“He is a good friend of mine, it should be like this inside the field, but we do not personally take things,” the teenager said.
Tamil Nadu’s left -arm spinner made life difficult for MI batsmen in between with 1/37 figures.
He said, “I was not getting so much shopping today, so had to bowl defensively and had to work for the team. The pitch played better than this.”
He said, “Looking forward to this season, I am very honest and working very hard by myself. I have seen a lot of games and worked on a lot of things for this season, so I am looking forward for this season.”
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