Ahmedabad: The breathtaking performance of Akash Madhwal against Lucknow Super Giants would have added to Mumbai Indians' (MI) specter as they seem to have "peaked" at an opportune moment where the side will look to leapfrog defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) in the Qualifier 2 match of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The vital five wickets for five runs caused MI to trounce an in-form, though with discrepancies of their own, LSG by 81 runs, resulting in an exit from the tournament at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday. The victory in no way reminds you of the absence of the stalwarts -- Jasprit Bumrah, Tilak Varma, and Jofra Archer -- and it must have invoked in the team the self-belief to perform on big occasions, a testament to Mumbai's behind-the-scenes work to unearth the talent by the scouting team.
MI squad are known to dig up victories when their backs are against the wall right from IPL's inception but they have done well gradually this tournament after a horrendous start. The team finished last in the previous edition and they would be keen on taking their IPL trophies count to 6, a number that is worth envying.
About the players, Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tim David have been the stand-out performers, who have laid the foundation of wins on most occasions with able support from Nehal Wadhera, Rohit Sharma, and Ishan Kishan. A team whose batting line has gone from being depleted initially to firing on all cylinders now, Mohammad Shami (26 wickets in 15 matches) will have a task cut out against them.
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Madhwal has risen to the occasion in the absence of experience campaigners in the bowling line-up with his spell reading a magnificent 3.5-0-5-5 against Lucknow that has taken the team to a position where they are just two wins shy from touching the trophy after a superb 3-wicket spell against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the league game.
Veterans Piyush Chawla (21 wickets in 15 matches) and Jason Behrendorff (14 wickets in 11 matches) have also been impressive, while an otherwise expensive Chris Jordan also enjoyed a fine outing of 2-1-7-1 in the Eliminator. Table-topper Gujarat Titans would look to stay true to their achievements after biting the dust against Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings as the team has it in them to trounce Mumbai Indians and make the second consecutive finals.
Titans would look to up the ante and fire in unison in the batting department instead of relying heavily on the performances of Shubman Gill and Vijay Shankar, who have taken the team aground on multiple occasions. CSK were able to silence Gill in the previous match, but if his recent form is anything to go by, MI must be wary of his explosiveness as the in-form batter can take the game away from opposition in the no time having scored two centuries already in the closing stages of the league.
With 722 runs in 15 matches at an average of 55.53, including two centuries and four fifties, the India batter has 421 runs more than the second-best GT batter -- Shankar with 301 runs in 12 matches -- and is also just eight runs short of going past RCB's Faf du Plessis to finish with most runs in this IPL.
The team would like their skipper Pandya to shed the out-of-form tag and go ballistic in the crucial match for the big match players that he is known for. Although, his scores -- 8, DNB, 8, 4 and 25 in his last five games -- don't inspire much confidence, but the India player definitely has a knack of rising on big occasions.
So far, the games between the two teams have been in equal measure with both teams winning one game apiece. The first match saw the Titans' creditable performance where they registered a lopsided victory by 55 runs. The complexion in the next game altered with world number one T-20 player Suryakumar Yadav taking up the mantle, powering MI to 27 run win, a margin of which could have been greater had Rashid Khan, who struck a brutal 32-ball 72, been silenced.
Teams (from):
Gujarat Titans: Hardik Pandya (c), Shubman Gill, David Miller, Abhinav Manohar, Sai Sudharsan, Wriddhiman Saha, Matthew Wade, Rashid Khan, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Shami, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Pradeep Sangwan, Darshan Nalkande, Jayant Yadav, R. Sai Kishore, Noor Ahmad, Dasun Shanaka, Odean Smith, KS Bharat, Shivam Mavi, Urvil Patel, Joshua Little and Mohit Sharma.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Chris Jordan, Arshad Khan, Jason Behrendorff, Dewald Brevis, Piyush Chawla, Tim David, Raghav Goyal, Cameron Green, Ishan Kishan (wk), Duan Jansen, Chris Jordan, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Riley Meredith, Shams Mulani, Ramandeep Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Hrithik Shokeen, Tristan Stubbs, Arjun Tendulkar, Tilak Varma, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Suryakumar Yadav.
Time: 7:30 PM IST.
