Live Report - Rohit, Bairstow and Bumrah lead MI into Qualifier 2

And GT are out of the tournament. A lot to talk about in this match, but the simplest comparison we can make is this one. MI hit 17 sixes. GT hit only eight. As good as their top-order batting has been this season, you always wondered if they had the power running through their line-up to keep up with a six-hitting team as good as MI. And today, you feel GT got as close as they could have, even with help from dew.

But he's done his job, and can tend to his hamstring now. Three balls, and with those three balls he puts GT out of the game, mathematically, unless Ashwani Kumar bowls a bunch of wides or no-balls. Two length balls into the pitch, one angled away from Shahrukh's hitting arc, and a wide near-yorker, and they only bring GT three runs.

That leaves them 21 to get off three balls.

And Ashwani goes full like he always does with his first ball, the fourth of the over, and Shahrukh can't get the elevation he's looking for, and is caught at cover. Then a dot ball as Rashid is beaten by another yorker slanting away from off stump.

And then, with 21 required off one ball he beats Rashid on the flick, hits his pad, but there's probably no lbw here even if they review, because I think it pitched outside leg stump. It doesn't matter in any case, because MI are through to Qualifier 2, and GT are out of IPL 2025.

Wow.

Boult had bowled a more or less pinpoint 19th over up to that point, with a bit of luck also going his way - such as Rutherford failing to put away that slot ball first up. Only six runs had come off the first five balls. Then Boult bowls one at Shahrukh's pads, and he whips it waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over the square leg boundary.

That brings it down to 24 off six balls with Rahul Tewatia on strike. Ingredients any T20 game would kill for. Richard Gleeson to bowl. He's struggling with what seems like a hamstring issue, but he'll bowl anyway. It seemed at one point as if Hardik would take over from him.

Boult strikes with the first ball of the 19th over, and Rutherford will be kicking himself, because this was a slot ball angling into his arc. Clears his front leg and goes hard at it, but he may have lost his shape a little. Goes off the inside half of the bat, without the power he's looking for, into the hands of deep midwicket. He's out for 24 off 15, and GT need 36 off 11 balls as M Shahrukh Khan walks in.

Bumrah is done for the day, and he finishes with a nine-run 18th over. Remarkable that he only conceded nine despite Rahul Tewatia hitting him for a six over midwicket.

It leaves GT 36 to get off the last 12 balls. Three a ball.

The left-arm seamer has done a good job since coming on as Impact Player. He has a more or less one-track bowling plan, which is to keep bowling yorkers, and today he's been there or thereabouts. His three overs so far have only cost 28 runs, with just three fours coming off them.

GT need 45 off the last three overs, with Bumrah to bowl the 18th.

Here's a big difference between the two innings so far. MI hit nine sixes in their last six overs. GT haven't hit a six since the 13th over, and have only hit six in their innings so far. MI hit 17 in all.

A hugely eventful 16th over. Sherfane Rutherford begins it with a pair of insouciant fours off Richard Gleeson, an open-faced steer to split backward point and short third, followed by a flick between fine leg and deep square leg. Then he hits a square drive hard, one-bounce to the fielder at deep point - a few yards either way and that was four as well.

It brings Sai Sudharsan on strike, and he falls in the pursuit of another boundary. Shuffles across to try and scoop him fine, but can't put bat to ball and is bowled by a full one that hits the base of middle stump.

He's out for 80 off 49, and GT need 59 off 26.

Some parallels between the innings of Rohit and Sai Sudharsan today. Both made 28-ball fifties. Rohit scored 31 off his last 22 balls, and SaiSu scored 28 off his last 21.

How often do MI - or India - call on Bumrah at moments like this, when a partnership is building, when the match is edging towards the opposition, when there seems to be no other source of inspiration on the field? And how often does Bumrah come on and change the match with one spell, one over, or even one ball?

He bowls one of the balls of IPL 2025 now. Pinpoint, 143kph yorker from over the wicket to the left-hander, with some late tail seeking the base of leg stump. Washington Sundar has batted beautifully, but this ball leaves him on the floor, literally. He pulls his left leg out of the way to make room for his bat to do something about this ball, and ends up with his feet split wide apart as the ball nutmegs him and dislodges his leg stump.

Washington goes for 48 off 24 balls. GT end the 14th over at 152 for 3, and need 77 off the last six overs.

Bumrah has 1 for 19 in three overs.

What an over this is for GT and Washington Sundar. The dew isn't making things any easier for Boult, and he errs in line three times in a row. Short, angling down leg, followed by length, angling into pads, followed by a wide outside off stump, followed by a half-volley. But how good has Washington been to put away anything marginally hittable? The crispness of his shotmaking has been something to behold. He's moved to 47 off 22 now, and Sai Sudharsan is 77 off 44.

GT need 81 off 42 balls, with Bumrah back in the attack for his third over. I wonder if the umpires will allow MI to change the ball at any point, given all the dew around.

There have been points during this innings when Washington may have come under a bit of pressure with his scoring rate (at least to someone like me watching from the outside), but he's managed to find the boundary whenever this has happened. Puts away two full-tosses from Hardik Pandya for four and six in the 11th over, then drills a wide half-volley to the cover boundary off Ashwani Kumar, MI's Impact Player, in the 12th. This after he had started the over with five boundary-free balls. MI are 130 for 2 in 12, and need 99 off 48 balls.

Meanwhile, the presence of two left-handers at the crease, plus dew, is keeping Mitchell Santner out of the attack. MI can cover the remaining overs with their other bowlers, though.

Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar have put on 39 in 22 since the dismissal of Mendis, and dew seems to be making things a little tricky for the MI bowlers. A couple of good overs either way are likely to shift this contest one way or another.

It's important that GT keep pressing on and not worry about the wickets they've lost. Sai Sudharsan does just that, ending that seventh over with back-to-back boundaries off Santner, a pull and a sweep off a gift down the leg side.

He's brought up his fifty off 28 balls, same as Rohit earlier today.

A strange IPL debut for Kusal Mendis. He was looking so promising here, having got to 20 off nine balls, but steps onto his stumps while attempting to rock back in his crease to pull Mitchell Santner. I think he lost his footing with his back-foot step, and ended up sliding back into the stumps. Yup, the toe landed but found no grip on the pitch. Don't know if there's any dew around, but this is certainly one possible drawback of dew for a batting team.

GT are 67 for 2 in 6.2 overs.

Pretty good powerplay score considering GT have faced Jasprit Bumrah for two of the first six overs. Bumrah has gone for 15 in his two, off which 11 come in the sixth over, including two leg-side fours from Sai Sudharsan.

It could have been 10 runs and a wicket, with a final-ball mix-up that left Mendis with no chance of making his ground if Raj Bawa could find a direct hit, but he didn't.

That's the partnership between Sai Sudharsan and Mendis at this point. Some gorgeous shots in the last couple of overs. Sai ended the fourth with a back-knee-on-the-ground cover drive off Richard Gleeson to bring up 700 runs for the season, and then spanked Hardik Pandya for two more off-side fours in the fifth. Then Mendis gets on strike and ramps a short ball over the keeper and to the fine third boundary to end a 14-run over.

GT are 55 for 1 in five overs.

Three sixes in Boult's second over, one to Sai Sudharsan - a leg-stumpish ball flicked over deep backward square leg - and two to Kusal Mendis, who shows the IPL what it's been missing all these years with a pair of tasty leg-side strikes: a pull over midwicket off a not particularly short ball, and a pick-up whip that sails a long, long way beyond the square leg boundary.

How often does he do this? It's a rhetorical question, but the answer, now, is 32 times in the IPL, more than any other bowler (Bhuvneshwar Kumar is second with 27).

Anyway, it's the most typical of Trent Boult new-ball wickets. Fullish length, slanting across the right-hander initially before curving back late, and pinging the pad right in front with the batter missing the flick. And what a batter to dismiss so early. GT have lost Shubman Gill, and Kusal Mendis, who had a troubled debut behind the stumps, walks in for his first innings in the IPL.

Mumbai Indians have a 17-0 record while defending 200-plus totals in the IPL. They have set Gujarat Titans a target of 229 in the Eliminator, after posting the second-highest total in any IPL playoff game.

That total was built on the back of a blazing stand of 84 from their new opening pair. Jonny Bairstow, replacing Ryan Rickelton who has left on international duty, smashed a 22-ball 47 on his debut for his third IPL team. Rohit Sharma, dropped twice in the first three overs of the match, went on to score 81 off 50 balls.

The middle order built on these efforts with panache, with Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Varma and Hardik Pandya hitting three sixes each to ensure MI maintained their momentum right through the innings. They hit 17 sixes in all, the joint third-most in any innings in IPL 2025.

MI chose to bat a day after Punjab Kings, sent in, had been bowled out for 101 at the same venue. This was a different pitch, however, with even bounce and none of the seam movement of Qualifier 1.

GT, however, could have had MI in trouble early, only for Gerald Coetzee and Kusal Mendis to put Rohit down on 3 and 12. Within minutes GT were firmly on the back foot, with Bairstow tonking Prasidh Krishna for 26 runs – though two of his boundaries came off the edge – in the fourth over.

Bairstow fell in the eighth over, but MI kept punching. Rohit’s use of the sweep against GT’s spinners was particularly noteworthy, bringing him 27 runs – the most he’s scored with variants of the sweep against spin in any IPL innings for which shot data is available – off just six balls.

He slowed down after reaching his half-century, only scoring 31 off his last 22 balls, but the rest of MI’s batters ensured there would be no let up in the scoring rate, and Hardik finished things off with three sixes off Coetzee in the final over.

Two full balls from Prasidh to Naman Dhir in the 19th over. Dhir flicks the first one for a stunningly timed six, and flicks the next one without quite the same timing, and Rashid Khan sprints and dives to his right to take a super catch at deep midwicket.

MI are 206 for 5 in 18.4 overs.

This time it's Mohammed Siraj with an offcutter into the pitch. Tilak looks to shuffle across and scoop it away past or over short fine leg, but only manages to glove the ball to Mendis, who finally completes his first catch in the IPL. Tilak had hit the previous ball for six; he's out for 25 off 11.

MI are 194 for 4 in 17.2 overs.

A slower ball wide of off stump, not full enough to slog over the leg side. Skews it high in the air and holes out at midwicket. He goes for 81 off 50 balls. MI are 186 for 3 in 16.4 overs.

Coetzee has bowled a couple of slower balls in his two overs, and Prasidh has struck with this one, but otherwise it feels like GT have underutilised this weapon.

On Rohit, he hit a few sixes in the last couple of overs, but only scored 31 off 22 balls after reaching his fifty. It didn't look like he was slowing down in terms of intent, but he certainly did slow down.

Rohit slog-sweeps Rashid for six in the 15th over, then flicks Coetzee effortlessly for another in the 16th. Tilak Varma joins in the fun three balls later, launching Coetzee sweetly over long-off.

MI are 175 for 2 in 16 overs. They've already hit 11 sixes today.

Two Tamil Nadu players combine to send back Suryakumar, who's out for 33 off 20. That's his 15th successive score of 25 or more in T20 cricket.

SKY had hit Sai Kishore for a lovely six over long-off earlier in the over, stepping out and stepping leg side to create room for his arms. Then he goes low for a sweep and middles it, meeting the ball on the full, but picks out Washington Sundar at deep backward square leg.

MI are 143 for 2 in 13 overs.

Kusal Mendis is having a forgettable IPL debut behind the stumps. He put down Rohit earlier today, and now he's put down Suryakumar Yadav. SKY tries to steer Gerald Coetzee fine, ends up edging thickly, and the ball just doesn't stick in Mendis' gloves as he throws himself two-handed to his right.

It's salt in wounds that SKY had opened up over the previous two balls, off which he'd whipped Coetzee 20 rows back over fine leg and then carved him over backward point and just cleared the boundary.

That over ends with MI 134 for 2 in 12.

Rode his luck early, and now he's really putting the pressure on GT's spinners. He's done this with his use of the sweep and slog-sweep. He's already picked up 20 runs against spin with variants of the sweep in this innings so far, the most in any innings in his IPL career (since 2014, when we started keeping track of shot type in our ball-by-ball data).

Wow, what a way for GT to get their breakthrough. Incredible bit of fielding from Sai Sudharsan at point, throwing himself to his left to try and catch a firmly hit reverse-sweep from Bairstow off Sai Kishore. The ball is flying, and Sai Sudharsan has to stick his right hand up above him while diving to his left. He can't quite catch it, so he parries it, goalkeeper-style, to Gerald Coetzee who completes the catch at short third.

Bairstow falls for 47 off 22, and MI are 84 for 1 in 7.2 overs.

Just three runs off the seventh over, but what's more encouraging than that for Rashid Khan is the lengths. He had been struggling in his last two games, constantly dropping short against LSG and constantly overpitching against CSK, but his first over today is a beauty. Quick, at the stumps, plenty of dip from what I could tell, and a couple of wrong'uns that turned fairly sharply.

It's MI's best powerplay of IPL 2025, by quite a distance, beating their previous best (66 for 1 against LSG) by some distance. Rohit ends the powerplay with three authoritative sweeps - a six and two fours - off R Sai Kishore in the sixth over. Pretty decent over in terms of length, but each time Sai Kishore's line strayed away from the stumps and went outside off, out stretched Rohit to spank him through or over the leg side. Tells you something about the conditions too - markedly different from yesterday, when hitting against the turn was fraught with risk.

What a return to the IPL for Jonny Bairstow. Bristling intent and some incredibly crisp hitting - including a massive pull and a whistling drive over mid-off - and also a couple of streaky edges that fly over and past short third. MI are flying after that 26-run over; they're 54 for no loss after four overs, and Bairstow is batting on 39 off 14 balls.

He's in an aggressive mood, and he picks up a pair of fours off the first two balls of the third over. Then Siraj goes shorter and gets the ball to both climb and shape away from Rohit. Shades of the Prabhsimran and Iyer dismissals from yesterday as Rohit top-edges a swipe across the line, and it's flying quickly and overhead to the right of Kusal Mendis, keeping on IPL debut, but it's a chance a keeper at this level has to take. Doesn't stick in his glove, and he ends up too unbalanced to recover and catch it on the juggle.

MI are 28 for no loss in three overs.

...and Gerald Coetzee puts it down at long leg.

Prasidh Krishna bowls the second over of MI's innings - it's the earliest he's bowled in IPL 2025, having previously not bowled before the fourth over - and creates discomfort with his fifth ball. It's short, angling into Rohit Sharma's body, and it hurries and cramps him on the pull. Miscues it high, and the chance is a straightforward one, but Coetzee spills it.

MI are 18 for 0 in two overs.

Hardik Pandya, the Mumbai Indians (MI) captain, has chosen to bat first in the IPL 2025 Eliminator against Gujarat Titans (GT).

That decision came a day after Punjab Kings (PBKS) were bowled out for 101 after being sent in to bat in Qualifier 1 at the same venue, but a fresh pitch, with significantly less grass cover, is in use for Friday night’s game.

Three players won new caps, with overseas players departing both teams on international duty. Jonny Bairstow and Richard Gleeson, who both have previous IPL experience, make their MI debuts, while Kusal Mendis, who comes into the GT side, makes his tournament debut.

They replaced Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks in the MI side, and Jos Buttler in the GT line-up.

There were other changes too. With the frontline quick Gleeson replacing the batting allrounder Jacks, MI balanced their line-up by bringing in the seam-bowling allrounder Raj Bawa for the swing bowler Deepak Chahar, who may also still be recovering from the hamstring injury while bowling in MI’s last game against Punjab Kings. GT, meanwhile, brought in the spin-bowling allrounder Washington Sundar for the seam-bowling allrounder Arshad Khan, possibly with dry-looking conditions in mind.

Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 3 Tilak Varma, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Naman Dhir, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt), 7 Raj Bawa, 8 Mitchell Santner, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Richard Gleeson.
Impact subs: Krishnan Shrijith, Raghu Sharma, Robin Minz, Ashwani Kumar, Reece Topley.

Gujarat Titans: 1 Shubman Gill (capt), 2 B Sai Sudharsan, 3 Kusal Mendis (wk), 4 M Shahrukh Khan, 5 Washington Sundar, 6 Rahul Tewatia, 7 Rashid Khan, 8 R Sai Kishore, 9 Gerald Coetzee, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Prasidh Krishna.
Impact subs: Sherfane Rutherford, Anuj Rawat, Mahipal Lomror, Jayant Yadav, Arshad Khan.

Jonny Bairstow and Richard Gleeson will be making their MI debuts today, and Kusal Mendis comes into the GT XI. Bairstow has plenty of IPL experience at Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings, and Gleeson has previously played for CSK, but Mendis is making his tournament debut as well.

Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks are unavailable for MI, of course, and Jos Buttler for GT. All of them have left for international duty.

It's a straight swap for GT, but it'll be interesting to see how MI rejig their XI, with a fast bowler in Gleeson replacing a batting allrounder in Jacks.