Mumbai Indians (MI) brought their championship mettle to the fore on Friday (May 30), defeating Gujarat Titans (GT) by 20 runs in the Eliminator of IPL 2025 at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur.
With this victory, the five-time champions set up a clash with Punjab Kings (RCB) in Qualifier 2 in Ahmedabad on June 1, with a place in the June 3 title clash against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) up for grabs.
After the win, MI skipper Hardik Pandya was full of praise for his team’s temperament and timing.
“At one point of time the game was even-stevens,” Hardik said at the post-match presentation. “I thought the wicket got better in the second innings. It started to come on well, they got into rhythm and we realised we need to hold our nerves and back our boys.”
Opting to bat first, MI racked up a mammoth 228/5 in 20 overs, thanks to a blazing 84-run opening stand between Rohit Sharma (81 off 50) and Jonny Bairstow (47 off 22).
“The way Jonny batted and started... for him to make his debut for us, it's a special franchise, coming in and playing the way he played. The way Ro batted — he took his time and once he got into rhythm, it was beautiful,” the captain added.
Pandya also lauded his bowling unit, especially Richard Gleeson’s final over under pressure and Jasprit Bumrah’s clinical spell (1-27 in 4 overs).
“The way Gleeson bowled. Jassi being Jassi. Ashwani... everyone chipped in well and we held our nerves. I would've liked couple more (big hits). The little margins help. We wanted to push in batting and I think we were able to do that.”
Asked when he decides to bowl Bumrah, Hardik smiled and said: “It's very simple. Whenever you think the game is going away, just bring him. When you have that it's a luxury. It's like Mumbai housing prices – he's that expensive.”
The last few overs were tense, but Hardik Pandya had it planned. “I was just watching the scoreboard and I thought if we can keep extra runs at the end, I had the bowlers to bowl it. It was important that Jassi comes and bowls that over so that the margin becomes longer (the 18th over). Very important to recover well. Looking forward to the next game.”
