Mumbai Indians defeated Gujarat Titans by 20 runs in the eliminator match of IPL 2025. With this defeat, Gujarat's team was eliminated from IPL. Now Mumbai will face Punjab Kings in Qualifier 2. After being eliminated from the league, Gujarat captain Shubman Gill has blamed his fielders for the defeat. Gill said that it is not easy to win after dropping three catches in the powerplay.
Mumbai batted first and scored 228 for five on the back of Rohit Sharma's 81 and Jonny Bairstow's 47 runs. In reply, despite Sai Sudarshan's 80 runs, the highest run-scorer in this season of IPL, Gujarat's team could only score 208 for six and was eliminated from the tournament.
'Dropping catches in the powerplay proved fatal'
India's new Test captain Gill said, 'The last three-four overs did not go in our favor, but it was a good match. It is not easy to win after dropping three catches, especially in the powerplay.' Gujarat's fielding was very poor and they dropped three important catches. Two of these were of Rohit and one of Suryakumar Yadav (33 runs in 20 balls). Rohit got two lives in the powerplay, which he took full advantage of. First Gerald Coetzee dropped his catch in the deep and then Kusal Mendis, who made his debut for Gujarat, dropped a catch behind the wicket on Mohammad Siraj's ball.
'Sudarshan and Sundar batted well'
Gill said, 'It is not easy for bowlers to control. Our message was clear play according to your own. This is what was told to Sudarshan and Washington Sundar. The last two or three matches did not go in our favor but the team, especially Sai, deserves credit for their excellent performance. They played very well. A score of 210 would have been good on this pitch.'
Rohit wanted to take full advantage of the lifeline.
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma, who was the 'Player of the Match', said that he wanted to take full advantage of the lifelines he got in his innings. He said, 'I scored only four half-centuries this season. I wanted to score more half-centuries. I know the importance of playing the eliminator. This victory has been achieved through team efforts. Whenever I play, the goal is to try to give my best performance. Luck favored me in this match and I knew that I had to take full advantage of it. I am happy that I could do this and bring the team to a good position. We knew that it would become very challenging after the dew fell.'
Hitman praised Bairstow
Hitman is Mumbai's second-highest run-scorer this season with 410 runs. He is only behind Suryakumar Yadav, who has scored 673 runs so far this season. Rohit praised his opening partner Jonny Bairstow for helping MI's innings get off to a great start. Rohit said, 'I have seen Bairstow playing for other teams for the last several years. We know what he can do in batting. He capitalized on the opportunities he got and he was also successful. We are always looking for such a start.'
Hardik called Bumrah valuable.
MI captain Hardik Pandya praised Rohit and Bairstow and said that they laid the foundation for the team's big score. Hardik said, 'The way Jonny started for us making his debut and the way Rohit batted, it was great to see. He took his time. When you watch important matches, all these differences help.' Hardik said that having the services of a master fast bowler like Jasprit Bumrah is a luxury for him at any stage of the game. The captain said, 'Whenever you feel the game is going too far, call Bumrah to bowl. It's like the prices of houses in Mumbai - Bumrah is so valuable! I just need to give the ball to him.'
Hardik's statement on Qualifier 2
Hardik said, 'I looked at the scoreboard and just wondered if we could save a few extra runs at the end, because I had bowlers, but wanted to give them a few extra runs to save. That is why Bumrah was given the ball in the 18th over. Bumrah coming and bowling the 18th over was important and this increased the difference between runs and balls.' Talking about the preparations for the Qualifier-2 against Punjab on June 1, Hardik said, 'It will be very important to recover well from this match.'
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