Daniel Sams bowled an outstanding last over for Mumbai Indians (MI) as he gave away just 3 runs, allowing his side to register a victory over the table topper Gujarat Titans (GT) by 5 runs on Wednesday (May 6).
After losing the toss, the five-time champions were asked to bat first. Both the openers found some form, skipper Rohit Sharma (43 off 28 balls) and Ishan Kishan (45 off 29 balls), and explosive hitting from Tim David (44 off 21 balls) down the order propelled MI to a score of 177/6 in 20 overs.
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Chasing 178, GT started off great with both the openers, Wriddhiman Saha (55 off 40 balls) and Shubman Gill (52 off 36 balls), scoring brilliant half-centuries. Once the openers were dismissed, the Titans lost a couple of wickets in the next few overs.
The Hardik Pandya-led side needed 9 runs off the last 6 balls. The match was GT’s to lose and Daniel Sams was handed the ball. The left-arm pacer bowled perfectly full and wide slower balls which missed David Miller’s bat, enabling the Mumbai Indians to register their second win of the season.
After the match, Daniel Sams spoke to Star Sports and stated that he bowled wide deliveries well and that his slower ball paid off when he was bowling to dangerous batters like David Miller and Rahul Tewatia at the end.
"It is awesome that we got over the line, it went back and forward. Must have been great for the fans to watch. 9 off 6 made me feel I have nothing to lose and the odds are in the batter's favor," he said.
"I got a few wide balls in the tramline and managed to execute it well. My intent was to stick to the best balls I could bowl, the slower one is the ball I go back to and it paid off.”
"We did not have the start we wanted, after the 8 losses, we looked it as a mini-IPL with 6 games. We are trying to show what we can do and were able to pull it off which helps our confidence," he said further.
After the game, winning captain Rohit Sharma expressed his delight and said he was not shocked by the seamer’s performance in the final over.
"A lot of credit to the bowlers at the back end. I want the boys to come out and do what they want to do. He (Sams) was under the pump in a couple of games, but I have seen him for Australia and in the BBL, he has a lot of skill. It was not easy to defend 9 runs," Rohit told Star Sports.
