Good morning\u2014another \u201cfresh day\u201d has dawned, and the sun is up again. Even if you\u2019re coming off a night shift, cricket has a way of making time feel brand new. Hardik Pandya summed up that mood at the toss for MI, as the franchise tried to snap out of a four-match skid.<\/p>\n
The script didn\u2019t just flip\u2014it flipped decisively. In Ahmedabad, MI finally got the better of Gujarat Titans for the first time at the venue, with the visitors collapsing after being asked to chase.<\/p>\n
Gujarat Titans captain Shubman Gill chose to chase, betting on a match at a ground where the first-innings total tends to matter. MI put pressure on the chase by reaching 199 for 5, built around Tilak Varma\u2019s dominant batting.<\/p>\n
Tilak\u2019s innings swung the game in a hurry. He was 19 off 22 at one stage, before the next 23 deliveries turned into a scoring burst worth 82 runs. When Tilak finished on an unbeaten 45-ball century, MI\u2019s total looked even more imposing.<\/p>\n
GT\u2019s response collapsed in a hurry. Ashwani Kumar, returning to the setup, struck for four wickets, helping bowl Gujarat out for 100. It was also GT\u2019s biggest defeat by runs in terms of the margin, as MI walked away with the kind of win that ends debates early.<\/p>\n
There was also a turning point in the bowling attack. After five wicketless IPL games earlier in the season, Jasprit Bumrah finally struck\u2014on the very first ball he faced. It took a change in approach, and it came immediately.<\/p>\n
Hardik, visibly delighted during the post-match presentations, explained why Bumrah hadn\u2019t been used as the opening-over option so far. In his words, it wasn\u2019t a \u201cHardik Pandya problem\u201d\u2014it was simply that Bumrah is so impactful that he should be deployed wherever the team needs him most, rather than automatically at the start.<\/p>\n
Some moments deserved a little extra flair. Mahela Jayawardene received the \u201ctook-some-patience\u201d award for not running Tilak out after he was on 19 off 22. The black-soil pitch collected the \u201cdeja-vu award\u201d for behaving like it did on November 19 for the home side.<\/p>\n
Debutant Krish Bhagat was handed the \u201cduck-to-water\u201d tag for getting his lines and lengths right from ball one on IPL debut. And GT\u2019s middle order took home the \u201cincognito award\u201d\u2014they were present, but never really in the contest.<\/p>\n
MI entered the contest as the IPL\u2019s lowest wicket-taking Powerplay bowling side in IPL 2026. In their first five matches, their seamers had taken just three wickets, at an average of 87 with an economy rate of 10.87.<\/p>\n
Giving Bumrah the new ball\u2014only the seventh time he\u2019d been used in that role across 151 IPL matches\u2014delivered instant reward. GT lost a wicket on the opening ball for the first time in 66 games, and the early strike changed the rhythm of the chase.<\/p>\n
With matchups favouring MI, the quicks then removed Jos Buttler and Shubman Gill as well. It marked the first occasion in this season\u2019s context where GT\u2019s top three were dismissed inside the Powerplay, and after that, the contest was essentially decided early.<\/p>\n
Hardik praised the win as \u201cvery special\u201d and \u201cmuch needed.\u201d He also admitted to an unusual level of excitement during Tilak\u2019s hitting, saying that he screamed so loudly at some of the shots that he \u201ckind of got dizzy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hardik further added that it was \u201cabout time Tilak came and delivered.\u201d Tilak, meanwhile, said that \u201cthe first hundred will always be special\u201d and that he wants to spend more time at the crease. He also highlighted his range, explaining that he has \u201call the fancy shots and when the team needs, I can use them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shubman Gill\u2019s take was that \u201c160-160\u201d should have been a par number on that wicket, but GT \u201cgave away too many runs in the middle overs.\u201d He framed the loss as a \u201csmall hiccup,\u201d hoping to bounce back quickly.<\/p>\n
James Franklin, the SRH assistant coach, weighed in on another storyline: he felt Nitish Reddy\u2019s pace \u201cis definitely up.\u201d Franklin also praised how the allrounder goes about his work, noting that he has been \u201cplanning his overs and sequencing his balls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tilak Varma also earned a Stat Snack. He became the first MI batter\u2014and the overall ninth player\u2014to outscore the opposition in IPL. The most recent batter to do it before him was KL Rahul (132*) for PBKS against RCB (109) in Dubai in 2020.<\/p>\n
There was more chatter away from the boundary too. Could Ahmedabad\u2019s black-soil pitch decision be getting too clever? A faint sense of deja vu lingered as the surface \u201cdidn\u2019t quite behave to script,\u201d and rumours suggest unrest in the background.<\/p>\n
The talk is that the stadium\u2019s black-soil strip could be phased out, with an all-red square potentially being prepared. One fan of Mark Zuckersburg\u2019s closet full of grey tees summed up the appeal by saying, \u201cI love the idea, one less choice to make.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the next round, SRH will host DC in Hyderabad. The spotlight remains on Nitish Reddy\u2019s pace, which has been one of the standout talking points across the season so far.<\/p>\n
And for a bit of fun, the reckless call for tonight\u2019s match is simple: Travis Head to deposit one into the crowd\u2014and another one right on the roof.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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