The Gujarat Titans defeated the Mumbai Indians by 62 runs in Qualifier 2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. GT advanced to their second straight final, while MI is eliminated from the Tata IPL 2023.
GT batted first and finished with a tremendous score of 233/3 after 20 overs. Shubman Gill stole the show for GT, scoring his third IPL century of the season with 129 runs off 60 balls.
The Indian star batted with a strike rate of 215, with 7 fours and 10 maximums. Sai Sudarshan (43 runs off 31 balls) and GT Captain Hardik Pandya (28* runs off 13 balls) came out to support him.
Mumbai Indians remained in the game until the score was 155/4 in 14.2 overs. Their batting fell apart after Suryakumar Yadav was removed (61 runs off 38 balls). Mohit Sharma blasted a five-fer to send the Mumbai Indians packing.
Tilak Varma (43 runs off 14 balls) and Cameron Green (30 runs off 20 balls) also contributed significantly to their team’s cause.
However, Gill’s great performance was the deciding factor between the two teams. The teenage Punjab batsman smashed the MI bowlers, making batting look stupidly simple.
Overall, the most successful team in IPL history did not provide the sort of efficient performance that previously allowed them to dominate the competition this season. Now that they have been eliminated from the tournament, it is time to look at three reasons why MI was eliminated from the Tata IPL 2023.
3) Over reliance on Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav was the only Mumbai Indians hitter to make it to the IPL 2023 top 10 runs-corers list. Yadav scored 605 runs in 16 matches, with an average of 43.21 and a strike rate of 181.13.
This season, he has five half-centuries and a century. Yadav scored 55, 66, 26, 83, 103, 7, 25, 33, and 61 in the second half of the competition.
While players like Cameron Green, Ishan Kishan, Tim David, and Nehal Wadhera put up some good performances, none of them could match SKY’s consistency.
Mumbai Indians needed more than one reliable batter to reach the finals with their bowling as vulnerable as it was. Despite a good half-century, Suryakumar Yadav was left with far too much to accomplish alone in Qualifier 2.
2) Weak bowling attack
Except for Piyush Chawla, none of the MI bowlers were among the top 10 wicket-takers in the IPL 2023. Another bowler that stood out for MI was Akash Madhwal.
With Jasprit Bumrah out, Mumbai depended heavily on foreign bowlers like as Jofra Archer, Jason Behrendorff, Riley Meredith, Cameron Green. All of them failed to provide the goods for MI.
Even Indian youths like Arshad Khan, Kumar Kartikeya and Arjun Tendulkar fell short.
Archer, Behrendorff, Meredith, Green, Jordan, Khan, Kartikeya, Tendulkar, and Shokeen’s economy rates were 9.50, 9.21, 10.52, 9.50, 10.77, 13.41, 8.73, 9.35, and 9.84. As a result, Mumbai Indians suffered considerably throughout the competition due to the lack of wickets taken and bowlers’ high economy rates.
1) Rohit Sharma’s poor form
MI Captain Rohit Sharma had a bad IPL 2023 season. Sharma was struggling to reproduce the top order performances he is known for.
In 16 matches, the current India skipper scored 332 runs with a strike rate of 132.80 and an average of 20.75. He only scored two half-centuries.
As a result, Mumbai Indians struggled to get off to a solid start for virtually the whole season as their captain failed to produce. Rohit Sharma’s dismal form has been a source of concern not only for MI but also for the Indian side.
India will compete in the World Test Championship final next month. ICC World Cup is also scheduled in 2023. Given that Rohit Sharma got five centuries in the previous ODI World Cup, the Indian team is counting on him to deliver.
