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Sharma, Bumrah guide Mumbai to tense win over Gujarat in Eliminator

football30 May 2025 18:40| © MWP
By:Patrick Compton
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Rohit Sharma, dropped twice in the powerplay, powered nine fours and four sixes to lead the Mumbai Indians to a tense 20-run victory over the Gujarat Titans in their Tata IPL Eliminator at New Chandigarh on Friday night.

Mumbai, who totalled 228 for five in their innings – their highest total in this season’s competition – will now face the Punjab Kings in Sunday’s second qualifier for the right to play the Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Tuesday’s final.

 

South African paceman, Gerald Coetzee, had a nightmare in the field after Mumbai won the toss and chose to bat first.
The bandana-clad bowler dropped Sharma on three – a straightforward catch – in the second over after he top-edged a hook to fine leg.
He was then taken for 51 runs off his three overs with Hardik Pandya blasting him for three sixes in the final over that was dotted with three wides.

Wicketkeeper Kusal Mendis, replacing the absent Jos Buttler on England duty, also had a game to forget, dropping Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav and stepping on his wicket when well primed for a good innings.

Gujarat were placed under immediate pressure in their reply when their heavy-scoring captain, Shubman Gill, was trapped leg before to a sharply inswinging delivery from left-arm paceman Trent Boult – the 32nd time the Kiwi has captured a wicket in his opening over.

Gill and Sai Sudharsan have been comfortably the best opening pair in this year’s competition and the early wicket was a major blow.

But the brilliant Sudharsan, who passed 750 runs in the competition during his innings, only the fifth batter to do so, was unphased.

He and Mendis, trying to atone for his dropped catches, added 64 off 34 balls for the second wicket before Mendis slipped trying to pull Mitchell Santner, uprooting two of his stumps in the process.

Once again, Sudharsan made light of this setback and he and Washington Sundar placed Gujarat in a position to win the match with a third-wicket partnership of 84 in 44 balls, featuring some of the best batting in the match.

Sudharsan, in particular, played a succession of superb, conventional strokes as he struck 10 fours and a six.

Sundar, so often ignored, played his part well, hitting five fours and three sixes in his aggressive 48 in 24 balls.

It was fitting, at this stage in the 14th over when Gujarat appeared to be flowing towards victory, that the world’s greatest pace bowler, Jasprit Bumrah, played a lethal hand, bowling Sundar with a sizzling yorker.

And when Sudharsan was bowled by England paceman Richard Gleeson, attempting to reverse sweep a low full-toss, the game was effectively up.

The graceful Sudharsen struck a superb 80 in 49 balls and hardly deserved to be on the losing side, so well did he play.

Bowling with a wet ball because of the heavy dew, Mumbai did just enough in the end to deprive Gujarat of victory with Bumrah the star with 1-27 off his four overs.

Boult was expensive, conceding 56 runs in his four overs, but he did claim the valuable wickets of Gill and Sherfane Rutherford.

SHARMA SHINES

Earlier, the Mumbai top-order all contributed valuable runs as Gujarat struggled to contain the rampant batters.

Sharma’s 81 in 50 balls was a superb effort, exhibiting some excellent sweeps, as he and Jonny Bairstow added 84 in 44 balls to give their team a whiplash start.

Bairstow was eventually dismissed by a combination of Sudharsan and Coetzee as the former palmed the ball, goalkeeper style, to Coetzee at backward point.

The Yorkshireman, playing his first IPL match this season, departed for a valuable 47 in 22 balls with four fours and three sixes.

Suryakumar “Sky” Yadav maintained the innings momentum with 33 off 20 balls, as did Tilak Varma (25 off 11 balls) and Hardik Pandya at the death (22 off nine).

But it was Sharma who provided the backbone of the innings with his majestic innings.

For Gujarat, Rashid Khan bowled well without luck (0-31 in four overs) while Sai Kishore and Prasidh Krishna both claimed two wickets.

MUMBAI INDIANS: Rohit Sharma, Jonny Bairstow (wkt), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (captain), Naman Dhir, Raj Bawa, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Richard Gleeson

GUJARAT TITANS: Shubman Gill (captain), Sai Sudharsan, Kusal Mendis (wkt), Shahrukh Khan, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Gerald Coetzee, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna

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