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IPL 2025: Mumbai Indians eliminate Gujarat Titans to set up Qualifier 2 with Punjab Kings
Strip away everything else, and you can more often than not reduce T20 contests to a simple count-off: who hit more sixes? Mumbai Indians (MI) hit 17 in the IPL 2025 Eliminator, and Gujarat Titans (GT) hit eight.
Rohit Sharma top-scored for MI with 81 off 50 balls, B Sai Sudarshan top-scored for GT with 80 off 49. The difference lay in MI’s hitting depth. Five of their batters cleared the boundary at least three times each.
This hitting depth took MI to the second-highest total in any IPL playoff game, and ensured that GT’s target always remained just out of reach, even though their chase, advantaged by dew, remained alive almost until the end.
And there was one other difference between MI and GT, a difference MI can call on against every other team in the tournament: Jasprit Bumrah. His raw figures were impressive enough – 1 for 27 in four overs – and he also produced the moment of the match, a pinpoint leg-stump yorker to bowl Washington Sundar between his legs, and end an 84-run fourth-wicket stand with Sai Sudharsan.
Bumrah followed up with an 18th over that went for just nine runs – despite containing a six – and that left GT with 36 to get off the last 12 balls. It became 24 off six after Trent Boult’s 19th over, and while it was possible – especially with Rahul Tewatia and Shahrukh Khan at the crease – it’s an equation that usually favours the bowling team.
MI’s total was built on the back of a blazing start 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, meanwhile, made his fourth fifty and highest score of the season.
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.
Even so, GT could have had MI in trouble early, only for Gerald Coetzee and Kusal Mendis – the latter making his IPL debut – 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. Here was another parallel with Sai Sudharsan’s innings: he scored 28 off his last 21. And just like Sai Sudharsan and Washington, Rohit and Bairstow put on 84 off 44 balls.
The most ominous thing about MI’s innings was the steadily rising frequency of their six-hitting. Even though Bairstow and Suryakumar Yadav – who made his 15th successive 25-plus score in T20s – were out by then, they cleared the rope nine times in the last six overs, with Tilak Varma and Naman Dhir doing their bit before Hardik Pandya finished with three maximums off Coetze in a 22-run final over.
If GT could have done anything differently with the ball, it could have been to use the slower ball more often. Prasidh and Mohammed Siraj dismissed Rohit and Tilak in the 17th and 18th overs with skillful use of this weapon, but GT probably turned to it a little too late, and didn’t use it often enough even then.
By the time dew set in during the chase, this option was taken out of MI’s toolkit, leaving them to put their trust in on-pace yorkers and the odd hard-length ball.
GT lost Shubman Gill early, with Trent Boult striking in typical fashion – angling the ball across the right-hand batter and bending it back to trap him lbw – to pick up his 32nd first-over wicket in the IPL. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is some way behind in second place with 27.
Then Bumrah bowled a four-run first over of swing and searing pace, leaving GT 9 for 1 after two. But they quickly found their voice, with Mendis putting a shocker behind the stumps – apart from the early Rohit spill, he also dropped Suryakumar in the 12th over – behind him with a pair of big leg-side sixes off Boult in the third over, and Sai Sudharsan finding the gaps with impressive frequency while rushing past 700 – and then 750 – runs for the season.
Mendis was looking ominous on 20 off nine balls when he fell in unfortunate fashion, his back foot slipping backwards when he stepped deep in his crease to pull Mitchell Santner in the seventh over, and trampling the stumps. It portended good things for GT in a way, though, since it was an early sign of dew.
The ball certainly came onto the bat beautifully as the Sai Sudharsan-Washington partnership surged. Washington took a little while to get going – he was on 11 off nine initially – but quickly found his boundary-hitting range and began to dominate the stand. When he hit Boult for two sixes and a four in the 13th over, he was on 47 off 22, and GT needed 81 off 42.
It was at this point that Bumrah re-entered the game. The fourth ball of his third over was a candidate for the ball of IPL 2025, swerving late, homing into the base of leg stump, and Washington’s front leg opening up to try and create space for his bat to access the ball only created a channel for the ball to burst through.
It wasn’t over yet, but with Sai Sudharsan falling to Richard Gleeson – another MI debutant – in the 16th over as GT chased a boundary almost every ball, MI’s grip tightened. And with all the dew about, their execution of yorkers – they usually didn’t miss by much even when they did miss – was exemplary. Bumrah and Boult were excellent, and Gleeson bowled three hard-to-hit balls in the 20th to close it out mathematically before trudging off with a hamstring issue, but Impact sub Ashwani Kumar was just as good. The left-armer eventually had the responsibility of bowling the last three balls, and finished with 1 for 28 in 3.3 overs.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 228 for 5 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 81, Jonny Bairstow 47, Suryakumar Yadav 33, Tilak Varma 25,Hardik Pandya 22*; Mohammed Siraj 1-37, Sai Kishore 2-42, Prasidh Krishna 2-53) beat Gujarat Titans 208 for 6 in 20 overs (B Sai Sudharsan 80,Kusal Mendis 20, Washington Sundar 48, Sherfane Rutherford 24, Rahul Tewatia 16*, M Shahrukh Khan 13; Trent Boult 2-56, Jasprit Bumrah 1-27, Richard Gleeson 1-39, Mitchell Santner 1-10, Ashwani Kumar 1-28)by 20 runs
[Cricinfo]
An ODI between Canada and Netherlamds in King City Toronto on Tuesday was abandoned due to a dangerous pitch. The fixture was part of the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup League 2 competition, which is part of the qualification pathway for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
The match was abandoned just 4.1 overs into the Netherlands innings after they had chosen to bat. They were 15 for 1, with Max O’Dowd the batter dismissed for a duck in the second over. The pitch had uneven bounce and the batters were struck several times during the short passage of play.
On June 12, four days before the abandoned match, the ICC had issued a statement saying the pitch at King City that was used for an ODI between USA and the Netherlands on June 8 had been given an “unsatisfactory” rating and one demerit point.
“This was a pitch that fell below the standard expected for this level of cricket,” match referee Phil Thompson had said about the surface for the USA-Netherlands match. “Both captains expressed disappointment with how it turned out, and the match officials assessed it as ‘very poor’. The inconsistent bounce created challenging and potentially unsafe playing conditions. Taking all factors into consideration, I believe the pitch merits an ‘unsatisfactory’ rating.”
According to the ICC’s pitch and outfield monitoring process, pitches that get an “unsatisfactory” rating will be given one demerit point, while an “unfit” pitch rating will result in three demerit points for the venue. Demerit points remain active for a rolling five-year period, and an accumulation of six demerit points will result in the venue being suspended from hosting international matches for 12 months (12 demerit points will lead to a 24-month ban).
(Cricinfo)
Joshua Da Silva and Amir Jangoo have earned recalls to West Indies’ squad for the two-match World Test Championship series at home against Sri Lanka starting later this month, while the two Josephs, Alzarri and Shamar, are back after missing the tours of India and New Zealand late last year because of injuries.
Trevin Imalch had kept wicket when West Indies last played Test cricket, in New Zealand last December, but Da Silva, 33 Test matches old, has returned after scoring 996 runs across the last two seasons of the West Indies Championship. Imlach, who failed with the bat in New Zealand with a total of 81 runs across six innings – after scoring 33 runs in his only Test in India – has been named captain of a West Indies Select XI to play the Sri Lankans in a tour match in Coolidge from June 18 to 21. Roston Chase will continue to captain the Test side.
West Indies vs Sri Lanka Tests
Jangoo, dropped after only one Test appearance, in Multan in January 2025, where he scored 0 and 30, has returned to the side following a fruitful WI Championship in which he scored 411 runs in seven innings. He finished second on the scorers’ table there, only behind Da Silva, who scored 413 in seven outing. The highlight of Jangoo’s season was the 203 not out he scored for Trinidad & Tobago against Leeward Islands
The pair of Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph, meanwhile, last played Test cricket during the home series against Australia in mid-2025.”Every Test series is an opportunity for us to grow as a team and strengthen our identity,” Darren Sammy, the head coach, said in a Cricket West Indies statement. “Sri Lanka are a quality side, so we know we’ll have to be at our best, but we’re excited about the challenge ahead.”For us, it’s about playing with discipline, showing character when the game gets tough, and representing the West Indies with pride. The players have been putting in the work, and we’re looking forward to putting on a strong display for our fans across the Caribbean.”
Some of the squad members are currently participating in a high-performance training camp in Antigua, which began on June 12 and will run till June 22. The members of the Test squad who were also part of the white-ball series against Sri Lanka – West Indies lost the ODIs and won the T20Is – will join the camp on June 15. The Tests will be played in North Sound from June 25 to 29 and July 3 to 7.
“This is a key component of our preparations heading into the series, providing players and coaches with valuable time to enhance and improve the skills we want to see sharpened, based on the areas we need to focus our attention on when facing this opponent,” Sammy said about the camp. “It also gives us the opportunity to put clear objectives and plans in place for the conclusion of the summer against Pakistan.
“Additionally, the four-day warm-up game prior to the series provides the chance for some of our Test hopefuls to play in high-intensity action and create the avenue for more competition within the squad ahead of the upcoming and future series.”
West Indies are currently bottom of the nine-team WTC table, having lost seven of their eight games in the ongoing cycle.
West Indies squad for Test series against Sri Lanka
Ireland Women 118/9 in 20 overs (Alana Dalzelle 14, Orla Prendergast 26, Leah Paul 10, Alice Tector 10, Louise Little 26*; Lauren Bell 1-39, Linsey Smith 1-20, Sophie Ecclestone 3-22, Charlie Dean 2-11, Dani Gibson 2-10) lost to England Women 119/6 in 17.3 overs (Dani Wyatt Hodge 16, Nat Sciver-Brunt 48, Heather Knight 26; Aimee Maguire 2-23, Orla Prendergast 2-17) by 4 wickets
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