Five-time champions battle for final spot as they clash with stalwart Gujarat
Posted on – 07:40 AM, Fri – 26 May 23
Gujarat Titans Rashid Khan bats during practice ahead of IPL 2023 second qualifier (IANS photo)
Ahmedabad: Akash Madhwal’s stunning bowling performance against Lucknow Super Giants in the knockout round would have given five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians a win, and they will have a chance against defending champions Gujarat in Qualifier 2 The Titans, will play Friday in the largest stadium in the world.
The Mumbai Indians rode a five-on-five wonderland produced by Madhwal at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to knock LSG from the tournament to the final with an 81-run victory on Wednesday night. MI’s big win was a warning to opponents that even in the absence of star walkers Jasprit Bumrah and Jofra Archer, they can up their game depending on the occasion.
MI pride themselves on prospering in times of difficulty, something they have done throughout the season. Rohit Sharma’s team, who finished last in the last edition, have knocked them out this season and will continue to fight for a sixth IPL title even with limited resources. The likes of Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav and Tim David responded well to the challenge and are now the backbone of the batting department, with young Nehal Wadhera also having a huge impact and openers Rohit and Ishan Kishan doing well.
It will be a tough test for the Titans’ bowling attack, led by Mohammad Shami (26 wickets in 15 overs) for better MI batting, which has improved considerably towards the commercial end of the game. Madhwal has been a revelation for the ball. The right-armed bowler produced a fantastic spell of 3.5-0-5-5 against LSG with a three-wicket blast to help in their crucial final league game against Hyderabad Sunrise Came to victory, sending his team into the virtual semifinals.
Veterans Piyush Chawla (21 wickets in 15 games) and Jason Behrendorff (14 wickets in 11 games) also impressed, while the otherwise expensive Chris Jordan also had a 2-1- Great performance at 7-1.
The Gujarat Titans, beaten by Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1, will have one last chance to pick themselves up and play their best in familiar conditions here to secure second in the trot Qualification for the IPL finals. For the defending champions, their batting will have to be consistent, as Shubman Gill and Vijay Shankar have done most of the heavy lifting with their bats in the past few games.
Gill may have had a day off against CSK, but his two centuries in the final stages of the league make him Mumbai Indians’ biggest threat. With 722 runs in 15 games and an average of 55.53 runs, including two centuries and four fifties, the Indian batsman is 421 more than the second-best GT batsman – Shankar has 301 in 12 games – also just eight points away from overtaking RCB’s Faf du Plessis for most runs in this IPL.
The Titans will also expect more from the bat of their captain Hardik Pandya, who is coming through a slump with 8, DNB, 8, 4 and 25 points in his past five games. David Miller, the Titans’ low-to-mid-level key man, also hasn’t scored 50 points this season and hasn’t hit double figures in his last three games.
Friday night’s match here will be the third time GT and MI have met this season, with each team winning one. After the Titans unilaterally beat MI by 55 runs at this venue, in their next game Suryakumar hit his first IPL century to give MI a 27-run win – if Rashi Duc, that advantage could have been much greater without Khan smashing a brutal 32-ball 72.
