Afghan spinners Rashid Khan and Noor Ahmad spun the Gujarat Titans to a 55-run victory against Mumbai Indians in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Chasing 208, Mumbai Indians never got the start or the momentum once captain Rohit Sharma was dismissed in the second over. None of the batters except for Cameron Green (33) and Nehal Wadhera (40) got going as they managed just 152 for nine.
Suryakumar Yadav provided hope with a brisk 23 off 12 balls but Noor ended his challenge prematurely with a stunning caught and bowled effort. While the left-arm wrist spinner Noor took 3 for 37, Rashid claimed 2 for 27.
Earlier, the Titans recorded their highest total in the IPL when they blasted the Mumbai Indians bowling to reach 207 for six.
Mumbai had things under control even though Shubman Gill scored a 56 off 34 balls to give the innings momentum at the start.
Man of the Match Abhinav Manohar of Gujarat Titans during his innings of 42 on Tuesday. PTI picture
Piyush Chawla and Kumar Kartikeya struck in the middle overs and pegged the Titans back but they couldn’t finish the innings off.
Abhinav Manohar (42 off 21) came in and took on Chawla. He struck him for a couple of fours and a six to release the pressure on David Miller (46 off 22). The momentum shifted after that over and the boundaries kept flowing.
Both Manohar and Miller struck at a strike rate of over 200 while adding 71 runs for the fifth wicket. The last five overs cost Mumbai Indians 77 runs. Rahul Tewatia then applied the finishing touches with a 20 off five balls.
Arjun Tendulkar began on a promising note and conceded four runs in the opening over after his skipper Rohit Sharma opted to bowl on winning the toss.
Gill got the first boundary of the match as the opener played one behind square off a Jason Behrendorff delivery that was slightly short.
Mumbai Indians didn’t have to wait long for their first breakthrough as Wriddhiman Saha missed an attempted pull to edge one to the keeper off Arjun in the first ball of the third over. Having taken his partner Gill’s advice, Saha reviewed, but the on-field umpire’s decision was retained.
It was a nice comeback by Arjun, four days after being smacked for 48 runs in three overs by Punjab Kings. Growing in confidence, the 23-year-old left-arm seamer gave away just five runs in the second over.
With the help of seven fours and a six, Gill gave the Titans innings the momentum it needed after a quiet first five overs. Gill collected 17 runs off Cameron Green’s first as Titans reached 50 for one at the end of the Powerplay overs.
