Cricket is a game of match-ups. Teams understand and execute plans according to their opponents’ weaknesses to get an upper hand, especially in big tournament like the IPL. 

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On Friday, one such match-up worked in the favour of the Gujarat Titans. Mumbai’s Kieron Pollard, who struggles against leg-spin early on in his innings, was cleaned by Rashid Khan. 

GT skipper Hardik Pandya was saving up Rashid Khan’s over with Pollard in Mumbai Indians’ dugout. As soon as the former West Indies skipper came out to bat, the Afghan was employed and the plan worked. The tall man was dismissed for four runs off 14 balls.

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Kieron Pollard defended 14 deliveries. He was playing cautiously. Khan was brought in for the 15th over. After bowling two googlies, the third and fourth ball, the leg-spinner went full and the delivery drifted away only to beat Pollard’s defence and crash into the off-stump. 

Mumbai Indians, after getting off to a flying start, slowed down to finish at 177 runs after 20 overs. Openers Ishan Kishan (45 off 29 balls) and Rohit Sharma (43 off 28) gave the Paltan a 74-opening stand to build on. However, wickets fell in a quick succession. 

For the Titans, Rashid Khan took two wickets for 24 runs while Alzarri Joseph, Lockie Ferguson and Pradeep Sangwan got one each.

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Pollard, who has been struggling this season, has scores of 3(6), 22(24), 22(5), 0(1), 10(11), 25(14), 14(9), 19(20), 10(14), 4(14) against his name. He has made 129 runs at a strike rate of 109.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians: 177 for 6 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 45, Rohit Sharma 43, Tim David 44 not out; Rashid Khan 2/24).