Mumbai

Rashid Khan's valiant knock of 79 (32) was insufficient as Mumbai Indians registered a 27-run victory against Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Wankhede Stadium in Maharashtra's Mumbai on Friday.

Rashid kept GT's hope alive when it stood on the verge of losing the game by a bigger margin. His knock ensured that GT didn't end up losing the game by a margin of 50 or 60 runs.

Mumbai Indians set the tone of the chase from the very first over as Jason Behrendorff bowled a tidy over. Akash Madhwal followed by bagging the first wicket of the match. The ball struck Wriddhiman Saha's pads, everyone was taken by surprise when the umpire lifted his finger to dismiss Saha. The wicketkeeping batter took a review and the ball barely struck the stumps. Saha had to walk back to the pavilion due to the umpire's call.

GT skipper Hardik Pandya started the innings well as he found the boundary on the first ball. But his stay was shortlived as Behrendorff bowled beautifully to find an edge and Ishan Kishan made no mistake while taking the catch. Pandya walked back to the pavilion with a score of 4(3).

All eyes were on Shubman Gill, his innings could have turned out to be the defining moment of the game. However, Akash ensured that this possibility didn't pan out. He broke through Gill's guard and the ball went straight crashing into the stumps. Gill ended his innings with a score of 6(9).

Vijay Shankar and David Miller managed to hold on for some time but it seemed MI was just one step away from claiming another wicket. Rohit brought in Piyush Chawla to find the breakthrough and the veteran Indian spinner didn't disappoint. He dismissed Shankar (29) by sending the bails flying into the air.

GT's hopes of securing the qualification took a major blow when their rising star Abhinav Manohar was bowled by Kumar Kartikeya for a score of 2(3).

David Miller and Rahul Tewatia were the two batters taking the final stand for the visitors. They managed to keep the scoreboard ticking.

But the pressure of scoring boundaries on a consistent basis broke their partnership as David Miller was trapped in front of the stumps by Akash.

Rahul Tewatia fell on the very next ball as he tried to clear the boundary in Chawla's over. His shot fell straight into the hands of Camron Green.

Rashid Khan came and started scoring sixes for fun with an inside-out shot and a reverse helicopter. He kept GT in the chase with his valiant knock unbeaten of 79 (32)*. But in the end, it wasn't enough as MI managed to win the game by 27 runs.

GT ended the innings with a score of 191/8.  

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Earlier, powered by a Suryakumar Yadav century MI scored a mammoth 218/5 in their allotted 20 overs.