Ishan Kishan’s terrible form continued as he was dismissed for a four-ball duck during Mumbai Indians’ IPL 2024 match against Gujarat Titans on Sunday. Kishan, who was dropped from BCCI’s central contract list, has struggled to score runs in the last few matches and once again was unable to score much. Kishan faced just four balls in the match before being dismissed by Azmatullah Omarzai in the first over of the Mumbai Indians’ innings. Kishan eventually played away from his body as he tackled an out-swinger from Omarzai and Wriddhiman Saha completed the catch comfortably.
Earlier, Jasprit Bumrah (14/3) was at his best in his first IPL match in two years, using his express yorkers at will to help Mumbai Indians restrict the Gujarat Titans to 168/6.
Young left-hander B Sai Sudharsan top-scored with 45 off 39 balls while Rahul Tewatia made 22 off 15 balls.
But the evening undoubtedly belonged to Bumrah, who had to miss the entire edition last year due to a stress fracture in the lower back.
He dismissed David Miller and Sudharsan in the 17th over in the space of three deliveries, which could be a potential game-changer.
Assuming that dew might fall later in the evening, MI’s new skipper Hardik Pandya invited GT to bat first, and Shubman Gill in his first match as captain was up to the task.
To make an impact against his former team, Pandya opened the bowling and Wriddhiman Saha (19) hit a wide ball through the offside to start GT’s campaign with a boundary.
Against Gill, Pandya made a mistake in the line and the stylish batsman used his wrists to hit it off his pads for a four, while the MI captain conceded 11 runs after his surprise move to start the proceedings at the expense of one of the world’s best bowlers. , Jasprit Bumrah.
While Saha found some useful boundaries, Gill found the fence with great ease while GT headed for a flyer.
However, Bumrah’s introduction in the fourth over brought immediate success to MI as the leading pacer sent Saha back with an express yorker and hit the base of the middle stump. The former India stumper could not bring down his bat in a short space of time.
Spin was deployed in Shams Mulani and Gill rocked back to cut the left-arm spinner for a four through covers. The GT captain then got down on one leg to smash Mulani for a huge six over deep square leg.
Piyush Chawla bowled an economical scoop even as GT managed 47 runs for the loss of one wicket in the powerplay.
Chawla continued and Gill tried to disrupt his rhythm but failed. He danced across the ground to hoist it but couldn’t get the necessary height as Rohit Sharma, who doesn’t normally play in such positions, saw fit to complete a neat catch in the deep.
The experienced Chawla snared the big fish with a googly as Gill (31 off 22 balls) walked back after targeting his eye, much to the relief of the hordes of Mumbai supporters at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
However, with Sai Sudharsan determined to pick up where he left off in last season’s title clash against CSK with a magnificent 96, MI knew they had their task ahead of them.
South African pacer Gerald Coetzee was responsible for Azmatullah Omarzai (17), while the brilliant Bumrah sent back David Miller and Sudharsan in one over before Rahul Tewatia took GT to the top with his lusty hits.
(With PTI inputs)
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