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Mumbai Indians (MI) needed 48 runs from 36 balls with seven wickets in hand against Gujarat Titans (GT) but suffered a collapse and lost their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 opening encounter by six runs. Hardik Pandya’s MI captaincy debut ended in a loss as he failed to play the role of a finisher and lost his wicket to Umesh Yadav. The former GT skipper got booed several times by the Ahmedabad crowd as well. GT’s death overs bowlers including debutant Spencer Johnson put pressure on MI’s lower-order batters crumbled under pressure and left too many for the end to get over the line.
Bumrah gets breakthrough
Earlier, Hardik opened the bowling for GT. Wriddhiman Saha welcomed him with a boundary. Gill hit a boundary from the 11-run over as well. Debutant Luke Wood in his first over was economical despite a boundary on the last ball. Pandya in his second over conceded two consecutive fours off Saha's bat. The breakthrough came in Jasprit Bumrah's over. He got bowled by Bumrah's brilliant yorker. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 19 runs from 15 balls. Shams Mulani in his first over was hit for a four and a six by Gill. After the powerplay overs, GT were 47/1.
Piyush Chawla got the better of Gill as he handed an easy catch to Rohit at long-on. Uncapped Indian debutant Naman Dhir was expensive and conceded 13 runs in his first over. Chawla could not keep the run rate down in his third over. Sai Sudharshan and Azmatullah Omarzai hit Chawla for a six each. Omarzai's cameo came to an end in the 12th over. Gerald Coetzee got his wicket in his first over. The Afghan all-rounder scored 17 runs from 11 balls.
Tewatia's cameo takes GT to fighting total
Sudharsan continued to anchor the innings while David Miller played himself in. Bumrah came back into the attack and got the wicket of Miller who scored 12 runs from 11 balls. Sudharsan missed his half-century and fell to Bumrah. He scored 45 runs from 39 balls including three fours and a six. Wood in his second over was taken on by Rahul Tewatia. He hit a six and two fours in the 19-run over. Bumrah in the penultimate over conceded just seven runs. Coetzee ended Tewatia's cameo as Dhir took an exceptional catch. Tewatia scored 22 runs from 15 balls. In the final over, he scored seven runs and restricted the score to 168/6.
Azmataullah strikes twice but MI get a good start
MI's run chase got off to a poor start. Omarzai was unplayable for Ishan Kishan. The wicketkeeper-batter became the Afghan pacer's maiden IPL wicket. Former MI skipper Rohit Sharma opened his account with two fours off Umesh. Dhir took on Omarzai and hit him for three consecutive fours and a six. His cameo of 10-ball 20 ended in the same over as he was dismissed lbw by Omarzai. Rohit took on Umesh again and hit him for the first six of the innings. Impact player Dewald Brevis got off the mark with a boundary. Rashid Khan conceded just a single despite a boundary off Rohit's bat. MI were 52/2 after powerplay overs.
Rohit, Brevis miss fifties
Ravisrinivasan Kishore kept Brevis guessing and conceded just three runs in his first over. In the next over, Brevis smashed Rashid for a maximum over long-off. Brevis went on the charge against Johnson and welcomed him with a six. Rohit hit two boundaries to make it a 17-run over. Brevis capitalised on Kishore's error and hit him for a six. Mohit Sharma was introduced in the 12th over. He almost got the breakthrough but dropped Rohit's catch on follow-through. Kishore in his last over got the big wicket of Rohit. He got out lbw for 29-ball 43. Tilak Varma hit his first boundary off Rohit. Rashid kept a lid on boundaries while Mohit got rid of Brevis with a caught and bowled. The South African scored 46 runs from 38 balls including two fours and three sixes.
Hardik fails to finish amidst chaos
Rashid in his last over conceded just three runs and made the equation 36 runs from three overs. Tim David hit Mohit for a boundary but failed to make it a big over and got dismissed off the slower delivery. He scored 11 runs from 10 balls. Varma started the penultimate over with a six off Johnson but lost his wicket next ball. On the last ball, he got the wicket off Coetzee as well. All eyes were on Hardik with 19 runs needed from six balls. Hardik hit a six over extra cover and then a four in the same area. But he couldn't finish the game and got out on the third ball. Umesh got Piyush Chawla on the last three balls and helped GT beat Mi by six runs.
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