GT ended the 6 consecutive winning streak of MI at Wankhede. The visitors held their nerves and clinched the victory in the last ball of the rain-interrupted match as they chased down 147 in 19 overs with 4 wickets in hand (*score was adjusted to DLS method). Let’s look at the key reasons for MI‘s defeat.
MI’s batting collapse
MI openers Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton lost their wickets early in the powerplay. MI were struggling at 26/2 in 3.3 overs. Will Jacks and Suryakumar Yadav built a partnership from there. They made a partnership of 71 runs in 44 balls and lifted the score to 97 runs in 10.3 overs.
Suryakumar Yadav lost his wicket ( 35 runs off 24 ) to Sai Kishore. MI were 97/3 at 10.4. The collapse started there. MI lost 3 wickets in the next three consecutive overs. They were reduced to 113/6 in 13.5 overs and 123/7 in 16.2 overs. They lost 5 wickets in 34 balls and scored just 26 runs.
This collapse imposed a break in the run-rate, and MI fell short of some 20-30 runs in the end. MI finished with 155/8 in 20 overs.
DLS par score
When GT started their innings, it was drizzling slightly at the Wankhede. GT lost Sai Sudarshan in the second over. The team has to play a minimum of 5 overs to get eligible for the DLS calculation. Otherwise, the match will be called a “no result” and the teams will get one point each.
So, Hardik Pandya aimed for one more wicket in the powerplay to increase the DLS score. The DLS par score was 40/1 in 6 overs. Pandya gave 2 overs to Bumrah and 3 overs to Trent Boult in the powerplay, and restricted GT to 29/1 in 6 overs.
The drizzle looked like getting stronger at that time. So, MI played smartly and took the strategic time-out at that time. They were 11 runs ahead at that time. But, unfortunately, the drizzles stopped, and the game continued.
Gill and Buttler built a steady partnership. Buttler lost his wicket in the 12th over to Ashwani Kumar ( 30 runs off 27 balls). Sherfane Rutherford came to bat. He smashed 2 fours and a six in Will Jack’s 13th over. GT scored 15 runs off that over. He smashed one more six off the 14th over of Ashwani Kumar.
The drizzle started again. GT are 107/2 in 14 overs. They are 8 runs ahead of the DLS score now. They took the second strategic time-out at this time. But luck didn’t favour them as well as drizzle stopped, and the match began.
Hardik introduced Bumrah in the 15th over. He clean bowled Captain Shubman Gill ( 43 off 46 ). Trent Boult came to bowl the 16th over and dismissed Sherfane Rutherford ( 28 off 15 ), who was striking dangerously. Bumrah came again in the 17th over and dismissed another dangerous finisher Sharukh Khan.
Ashwani Kumar came and to bowl the 18th over and dismissed Rashid Khan. MI gave it back to GT. 4 wickets in 4 consecutive overs. GT were reduced from 107/2 in 14 overs to 132/6 in 18 overs. The DLS par score was 136 at that time. MI were 4 runs ahead.
The rain came back but this time, it was heavier. It poured for sometime and MI thought, they could win the match now. But again, the rain stopped after sometime, The target was reversed to 147 runs in 19 overs. So, literally one over remaining and GT has to score 15 runs.
Blunder from Hardik Pandya
GT required 15 runs from 6 balls. Rahul Tewatia was in the strike. Hardik Pandya had two options. Either to give the ball to Deepak Chahar or bowl the over by himself. He can’t go with spinners as it was a high risk option. He conceded 18 runs in his first over.
So, depending on the form, he went with Deepak Chahar to bowl the final over. Tewatia smashed the first ball for a four and Coetzee smashed the third ball for a six. Coetzee took a single in the 4th ball, but it ended to be a no-ball. Now, Gt requires 2 runs 2 balls. Tewatia scored a single again.
Now, it became 1 run from 2 balls. Coetzee got out in the fifth ball. Now, Gt required 1 run of 1 ball. Arshad Khan came to face the final ball. He pushed it to Hardik Pandya on the mid on and ran for a single. Pandya couldn’t hit the stumps directly and GT completed the single and won the match.
Hardik Pandya literally had a lot of time to aim and hit the stumps, but he missed it completely. These two blunders from him cost the match in the last over.
Deepak Chahar never bowled while defending a total in IPL before. Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya had the experience of defending a total in the last over of the World Cup Final.
Irrespective of the form, he should have taken the ball himself to defend the total yesterday.
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