IPL 2023: 3 positives for MI from their defeat against GT

The Gujarat Titans (GT) defeated the Mumbai Indians (MI) by 55 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. With the result, GT have climbed to the second spot in the IPL standings while MI are placed at the 7th position.

MI won the toss and put the GT into bat. Shubman Gill (56 runs off 34 balls) struck a classy half-century, laying a solid platform for his team. However, MI seemed to be doing well till the 13th over with the GT score at 103/4.

However, all hell broke loose in the last seven overs as MI conceded 104 runs in the phase. GT were propelled to a 200-plus score by the hard-hitting efforts of David Miller (46 off 22), Abhinav Manohar (42 off 21) and Rahul Tewatia (20* off 5). GT eventually posted a total of 207/6 in 20 overs.

Chasing such a huge score, MI were not in the game from ball 1 as they were reduced to 59/5 in 10.4 overs. Some late hits by Nehal Wadhera, Suryakumar Yadav and Piyush Chawla did add some sort of respectability to the MI score. At the end of the innings, MI could only manage 152 runs for the loss of nine wickets.

The positives for MI were far and few in between as Rohit Sharma and his men will have a lot to think about before their next game against a solid RR side on April 30.

On that note, let us take a look at three positives for MI from their loss against GT.

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#1 Piyush Chawla shows all-round prowess

While most MI bowlers were taken to the cleaners, Piyush Chawla delivered yet another quality spell for his side. In his four overs, the veteran gave away just 34 runs, picking up the dangerous Hardik Pandya and Vijay Shankar.

Chawla has easily been the most important MI bowler, taking 11 wickets in seven matches at an excellent economy rate of 7.11. Today, Chawla played a fine cameo with the bat too scoring 18 runs off just 12 balls, showing that he is a more than capable batter.

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#2 Nehal Wadhera shows promise with the bat for MI

Nehal Wadhera (40 off 21 balls) played a fine knock, helping the MI side cross 150 runs in their 20 overs. The youngster, who had had a quiet season with the bat so far, struck three boundaries and as many sixes as he played at a strike-rate of almost 200. The MI management will be hoping for more consistent performances from Wadhera.

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#3 Arjun Tendulkar recovers well from last game

Arjun Tendulkar recovered well from his poor performance in the game against Punjab Kings (PBKS) to bowl a fine opening spell for MI. The 23-year-old gave away just nine runs in his 2 overs, while picking up the wicket of GT opener Wriddhiman Saha.

Arjun later played a short innings with the bat, in which he scored 13 runs from nine balls, striking a six off senior pacer Mohit Sharma. MI will be hoping that Tendulkar can develop his death bowling skills as MI desperately need a good death bowler.