3 player battles to watch out for in GT vs MI, Match 9 of IPL 2025 ft. Rohit Sharma

Gujarat Titans (GT), the champions of the 2022 season, will host five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in the upcoming ninth match of the ongoing 2025 Indian Premier League. The two teams will face off at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Both teams are coming off defeats from their respective previous games and would be hoping to add the first two points against their name in the points table. While MI were handed a defeat by the Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk, Punjab Kings beat GT in a high-scoring game in Ahmedabad.

While GT have the home advantage, their previous encounter against MI was a thrilling one, winning by a low margin of just six runs. MI, on the other hand, will get their regular skipper Hardik Pandya back on the side, who missed their previous game due to a match ban carried forward from the last season.

With both sides geared up to cross swords, here are three player battles to watch out for.

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#3 Kagiso Rabada vs Rohit Sharma

The former MI skipper had a dismal outing in their previous game against CSK and was dismissed for a four-ball duck, courtesy of Khaleel Ahmed. Kagiso Rabada, too, couldn’t impress much against PBKS and ended up conceding 41 runs in four overs, picking up a lone wicket.

Rohit and Rabada have a good history facing each other in T20s. The former has faced 76 balls in 15 innings against the latter, and has scored 90 runs off them, including 10 fours and five sixes, while maintaining a strike rate of 118.42.

Rabada has dismissed the MI batter four times in these 15 outings, making the upcoming match-up even more interesting.

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#2 Hardik Pandya vs Rashid Khan

Hardik Pandya will be back to lead MI to play his first game this season after missing out on the first game due to an over-rate ban. Suryakumar Yadav led the team in his absence as they were handed a defeat.

Rashid Khan, meanwhile, had an outing to forget against PBKS as he conceded the second-highest runs for his side, recording figures of 1/48 in his four-over spell. He will now be hoping to turn the tables around and be at his best against MI.

Pandya will walk out to bat in the middle overs, while Rashid will be in charge with the ball around the same time. Having faced each other in seven T20s, the MI all-rounder has scored 31 runs against the Afghan bowler, with the latter getting the better of Pandya twice in these games.

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#1 Shubman Gill vs Deepak Chahar

GT skipper Shubman Gill and the newest addition to the MI squad- Deepak Chahar- have had some really interesting matchups. Both players are in good form heading into the upcoming GT vs MI clash, and it’ll be interesting to see who dominates this battle.

While Gill opens the batting for GT, Chahar is a new-ball bowler for MI. The last time Chahar dismissed Gill in a game of T20, the former was a part of the CSK camp as the two teams squared off at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai.

The duo have faced each other in 10 innings, with Gill scoring 78 runs off 55 deliveries at a strike rate of 141.81. He has hit 10 fours and a couple of sixes against Chahar, who has dismissed the GT opener four times in these outings.