GT vs MI 2024 ( Photo source : X / Twitter )
Last year’s runners-up Gujarat Titans faced the five-time winners Mumbai Indians in Match 5 of the Indian Premier League 2024, played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The build-up to this encounter was quite a fascinating one, owing to Hardik Pandya returning to GT’s home stadium for the first time after leading them in the past couple of seasons, winning IPL 2022 and coming runners-up in the following season. The home team went ahead with introducing three debutants into the mix, with MI handing out debuts to as many players.
Winning the toss, the newly-appointed skipper, Pandya, opted to field first. GT opened with wicketkeeper-batter Wriddhiman Saha and their new captain Shubman Gill. The home team were going decently well, until the pace bowling spearhead of MI, Jasprit Bumrah, provided the first breakthrough of the game, darting a pinpoint yorker to clean Saha up. Gill and the team’s eventual highest scorer, Sai Sudharsan (45 off 39) stitched a quickfire partnership for the second-wicket before the skipper made his way back to the hunt.
Also Read: GT vs MI: Dog runs past Hardik Pandya to interrupt play during match, video goes viral
Azmatullah Omarzai, David Miller, and Rahul Tewatia, all started off their innings at a fair pace but couldn’t build upon them, making GT finish with a par score of 168/6. The first innings was mainly characterized by Titans not being able to shift gears and up the ante, courtesy of some tight and fantastic bowling from the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee in particular, who ended up with collective figures reading 8-0-41-5. MI’s skipper didn’t have a good outing with the ball, as well as debutants Luke Wood and Naman Dhir, who proved to be expensive with the ball.
In response, GT started off the second innings with a bang, with debutant Omarzai dismissing Ishan Kishan for a four-ball duck with MI’s wicketkeeper feathering it through to Saha. Dhir looked bright during his time at the crease with a 20-run knock striking at 200, but was trapped in front to give Omarzai his second scalp. Ex-MI skipper Rohit Sharma batted well for his 29-ball 43, but succumbed to left-arm spinner Sai Kishore by getting LBW.
The match was hanging by a knife’s edge and was anyone’s to grab at this point, with Dewald Brevis building up his innings slowly but steadily alongside Tilak Verma. However, the match turned on its head courtesy of two brilliant catches by Mohit Sharma off his own bowling and substitute fielder Abhinav Manohar, to get rid of the above-mentioned batters, respectively.
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Tim David tried to break free but failed at 11 off 10, bringing the skipper himself to the middle. Requiring 19 off the final over, Hardik smashed the first two balls for a six and a four, respectively, but departed on the next ball, leaving it all to do for the lower-order. Chawla departed off the very next ball, leaving Umesh Yadav on a hattrick. The Vidarbha pacer didn’t get the hattrick, but made sure to contain enough runs for the two-time finalists.
Meanwhile, X was abuzz with funny reactions on the game between GT and MI. Here are some of them –
Hardik Pandya is toying with him Changing his fielding position after every ball 😭🤣 https://t.co/Fff80v8yTg
— Wellu (@Wellutwt) March 24, 2024
HANDED OVER SACKED pic.twitter.com/Popb8SoTeS
— ‘ (@Ashwin_tweetz) March 24, 2024
Ante hardik attutude valla anthe..MI mida em kopam le… pic.twitter.com/5Jc2YCCd3H
— మహి రెడ్డి (@C_MR19) March 24, 2024
Hardik unaku aaganum da#GTvsMI pic.twitter.com/yqtXYxAkrn
— Ganesh Laxman (@itzganesh07) March 24, 2024
People Talking About Rohit and Hardik Pandya for MIvGT
Meanwhile Shubman Gill and Ishan kishan : pic.twitter.com/VP7DswQMK1
— Abhay (@abhayysrivastav) March 24, 2024
Hardik Pandya starts speaking
Ahmedabad audience : pic.twitter.com/EtYToXVWAH
— SwatKat💃 (@swatic12) March 24, 2024
Hardik Pandya and MI lost the match😂
Meanwhile Mumbai Indians fans 💔#GTvsMI #IPL2024 #Chapri pic.twitter.com/OpdHHHZUsz
— Ashutosh Srivastava 🇮🇳 (@sri_ashutosh08) March 24, 2024
#GTvsMI
Rohit Sharma rn: pic.twitter.com/CFohJx49Qz
— 🇮🇳 رومانا (@RomanaRaza) March 24, 2024
#GT Won the match..🤝 Hardik could’ve played a sensible knock at the last over..🚶 #GTvsMI pic.twitter.com/i0Ris6OVls
— Laxmi Kanth (@iammoviebuff007) March 24, 2024
Mumbai Indians main target during next auction#GTvsMI pic.twitter.com/blm19AXml8
— Mridul Pal (@themridulpal) March 24, 2024