Tilak Varma dazzled under the Hyderabad lights with a superlative unbeaten hundred in 45 balls while Naman Dhir supported him with the bat. Ashwani Kumar, the Impact Player, stole the show with the ball with his 4-wicket haul, and others chipped in as MI thrashed GT in Ahmedabad. MI batted first, and after a stuttering start, Tilak Varma dazzled with his unbeaten maiden ton, and Naman Dhir made a good-looking 45 to power the MI team to 199/4 in 20 overs.
In reply, while defending the score MI were all over GT as Impact Player Ashwani Kumar came out all guns blazing with 4/24 in 4 overs while spinners Allah Ghazanfar and Mitchell Santner picked up 2 wickets each as MI bowled out GT for 100 in 15.5 overs as MI won by 99 runs to climb upwards to 7th in the points table while GT stayed in 6th place.
Tilak Varma’s superlative unbeaten ton powers MI to 199/5
Put into bat first, the keeper batter Quinton de Kock opened the batting with debutant Danish Malewar. Mohammed Siraj had the ball in hand for GT. Siraj bowled a good first over. Quinton de Kock took on Rabada and hit him for a maximum. But GT got their first wicket as only 10 runs were on the board when Malewar was pinged right in front for 2 off 4 balls to Kagiso Rabada. The batter walked and did not bother to review. Naman Dhir came out to bat next.
Naman started playing his shots while de Kock got a boundary away. The duo added 15 runs to the tally before de Kock fell for 13 off 11 balls with one four and one six to his name to Rabada. Suryakumar Yadav came out to bat next and started quickly off the blocks. Naman was looking good out there and added 19 runs for the third wicket with Surya before Surya fell for 15 off 10 balls with one four and one six to his name as he was cleaned up by Rabada.
Tilak Varma came out to bat next as MI were 46/3 in 6 overs. Naman was the aggressor of the two as he was playing fluently. GT had control of the proceedings in the first half of the contest. Tilak was going at less than a run a ball. But after getting in for the first 22 balls, he switched gears. Naman and Tilak added 52 runs for the 4th wicket before Naman fell for a well-made 45 off 32 balls with 6 fours and one six to his name to Prasidh Krishna.
MI were 96/4 in 12.3 overs when captain Hardik Pandya walked out to bat. But from this point, it was the Tilak Varma show as the southpaw dazzled under the Ahmedabad lights. He took on the accelerator’s role and just went at train speed. Hardik was struggling for timing, but Tilak was on the move. Till 15 overs, GT had control of the proceedings, but they lost the plot in the death overs.
Big overs started to come like a 26-run over from Ashok Sharma. Tilak just attacked the bowling from the word go now. Hardik got a few shots away, but this partnership was dominated by Tilak. The duo put on a game-changing 81-run stand for the 5th wicket before Hardik finally fell for less than a run a ball, 15 off 16 balls, with one boundary to his name as MI were 177/5 now in 18.5 overs. Sherfane Rutherford came out to bat next and got off the mark straightaway. But it was Tilak Varma all the way in Ahmedabad.
Tilak Varma almost single-handedly got 22 runs in the last 7 balls and hit the last two balls to the fence to get to his maiden IPL hundred off just 45 balls. Tilak Varma remained unbeaten on 101 off 45 balls with 8 fours and 7 sixes to his name, while Rutherford remained unbeaten on 1 off 2 balls. 7 extras given by the fielding side as MI ended with a magnificent 199/5 in 20 overs.
Kagiso Rabada was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/33 in 4 overs. Mohammed Siraj finished with 1/25 in 4 overs. Prasidh Krishna finished with expensive figures of 1/54 in 4 overs. Ashok Sharma finished with 0/38 in 3 overs. Rashid Khan finished with 0/31 in 4 overs. Washington Sundar bowled an over for 13 runs. So, this meant that GT needed 200 runs to win the contest off 20 overs.
Ashwani Kumar’s 4-wicket haul skittles GT for 100 in 15.5 overs.Â
Chasing 200 for the win, Sai Sudharsan and captain Shubman Gill came out to open the batting for GT while Jasprit Bumrah had the ball in hand for MI. MI made a perfect start as Sai was dismissed on the first ball of the innings for a golden duck by Bumrah. Jos Buttler came out to bat next and hit a boundary to get himself going. But Buttler did not last long, as just 5 runs were added to the tally before Buttler fell for 5 off 6 balls with one boundary to his name to Hardik Pandya.
Washington Sundar came out to bat next. Sundar came and played his shots initially while Gill tried to take the attack to the opposition. The duo played at a fair clip and added 35 runs for the third wicket in quick time before Gill fell for 14 off 13 balls with 3 fours to his name as he was holed out in the deep by Naman Dhir off Ashwani Kumar, the impact player. Glenn Phillips came out to bat next, and by now the writing was on the wall.
GT made 45/3 in 6 overs of the power play. The duo of Phillips and Sundar tried to build some partnership and added 14 runs for the 4th wicket before Sundar fell for 26 off 17 balls with 5 fours to his name to Mitchell Santner. Impact Player Rahul Tewatia came out to bat next. Another one bit the dust as just one run was added to the total before Phillips fell for 6 off 8 balls to Santner, who had two wickets in the over. Shah Rukh Khan came out to bat next.
Tewatia struggled out there while Shahrukh played his shots. The duo of Tewatia and Shahrukh added 24 runs for the 6th wicket before the Impact Player Tewatia fell for 8 off 11 balls with one four to his name to Ashwani Kumar. Rashid Khan came out to bat next. GT were 79/6 in 11 overs. 6 runs were added to the tally before Rashid fell for 4 off 6 balls to Ashwani Kumar. Kagiso Rabada came out to bat next.
Wickets kept on tumbling for the GT team. Just one run was added to the tally before Shahrukh fell for 17 off 13 balls with one four and one six to his name to Kumar yet again. Ashok Sharma came out to bat next. Rabada played a few shots getting boundaries away at will. The duo added 13 runs to the tally before Rabada fell for 12 off 14 balls with 2 fours to his name to Allah Ghazanfar. Mohammed Siraj came out to bat next at 11. Just another run via a wide was added to the score.
Siraj was adjudged LBW for a bronze duck, which Siraj reviewed in hope and saw three reds on ball tracking. Ashok Sharma remained unbeaten on 1 off 3 balls as GT were skittled out for 100 in 15.5 overs. 7 extras given by the MI team.
Ashwani Kumar was the pick of the bowlers for MI as the Impact Player made a great impact, finishing with awesome figures of 4/24 in 4 overs. Mitchell Santner finished with 2/16 in 3 overs. Allah Ghazanfar finished with 2/17 in 2.5 overs. Jasprit Bumrah finished with 1/15 in 3 overs. Hardik Pandya bowled an over as he finished with 1/18 in 3 overs. Krish Bhagat on debut finished with 0/10 in 2 overs. So, MI have thrashed GT by 99 runs and climbed from 10th to 7th in the points table on NRR. Tilak Varma was awarded the Player of the Match.
What Lies Ahead
So, MI have climbed upwards to 7th in the points table with 4 points & NRR of +0.067 with this win and will next face CSK in Mumbai on Thursday in a crucial clash, while GT have 6 points & are at 6th position & NRR of -0.821 travels to Bengaluru to face RCB on Friday. Tomorrow night, it will be SRH taking on DC in Match 31 in Hyderabad in a mid-table clash. So, all to play for as things are heating up in IPL 2026.
Let’s see how the match unfolds in Hyderabad tomorrow.
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