Shubman Gill won the Player of the Match as well.
In his reflections on Tuesday's match against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2025), Gujarat Titans (GT) captain Shubman Gill noted the early difficulties caused by rain delays and the tactical changes made on a slow pitch, but he also expressed gratitude for the hard-fought victory.
MI had been asked to bat first and posted 155/8 in 20 overs. Will Jacks (53), Suryakumar Yadav (35) and Corbin Bosch (27) were the main run-getters for the MI side.
In response, GT had a good start despite losing Sai Sudharsan for 5. Jos Buttler (30) and Shubman Gill (43) took GT to 78 runs in 11.3 overs, and then rain came pouring down.
"There was a little bit of chaos when we came into bat after the train, but always good to have a win on your side. The game plans were different in the power play,and the atmosphere was such that it felt like a Test match. We wanted to take the game on after the power play, but the rain kept coming. The wicket was a little bit slow, with the rain coming in, the shots were not easy to hit, so we thought, when it's in our zone, we were going for it," Gill said during the post-match presentation.
Gill's calm 43-run performance earned him Player of the Match. He acknowledged Rashid Khan's impressive comeback from injury and voiced dissatisfaction about the team's middle-order collapse while applauding the team's collective effort that resulted in their triumph in the final ball.
"It was frustrating; we were ahead at one stage, but we lost 4/20. But the universe gave us a chance before two minutes, and we took it. When the match goes till the last ball, when you chase 150, every contribution becomes important. Wins like these get you through in these big tournaments like the IPL. (On Rashid's bowling tonight) He is coming back from injury, it's not easy, he was bowling well in the nets, and good to see him bowl well tonight. Thoughts like these can creep in, but we need to take every game at is. It's about coming in and giving your everything when you come into play," he added.
The first pause was brought on by drizzle, which started early in the second innings and was more intense by the fourteenth over. After the 18th over, when GT needed 24 runs from 12 deliveries, the rain came again. When the match was halted after 18 overs, GT was five runs behind the DLS par total, even though they had been ahead of it for the whole of their chase.
However, when time allowed, a one-over shootout was used to determine the winner, and GT took advantage of this to secure the nerve-wracking triumph and climb to the top of the IPL standings.
(PTI inputs)