Mumbai Indians managed to defend nine runs in the last over versus Gujarat Titans at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Friday. Now, Rohit Sharma and co have won two consecutive games and Hardik Pandya have lost as many in a row. 

MI won the game by five runs. Daniel Sams was brought into the attack to deliver the final over. Nine runs were needed in six balls. The Aussie bowled three dot balls and one batter was run out, handing Mumbai two more points this season. 

Also read: Are Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings the new party spoilers of IPL?

Opting to bowl, Gujarat restricted MI to 177 for six, despite quickfire innings from opening pair of Rohit Sharma (43 off 28 balls) and Ishan Kishan (45 off 29 balls) and Tim David (44 not out off 21 balls).

GT were cruising in the first innings with openers  Wriddhiman Saha (55 off 40 balls) and Shubman Gill (52 off 36 balls) sharing a 106-run partnership. However, wickets fell all of a sudden and dented their chances in the match. 

Also read: Pandya’s plan works, Rashid cleans Mumbai Indians’ Kieron Pollard | Watch

Where did GT lose the game?

Hardik Pandya explained that the Titans played 19.2 or 19.3 overs of good cricket but the run outs in the end costed them. The skipper himself and hard-hitter Rahul Tewatia were dismissed in a span of 11 deliveries. 

“We’ll take 9 runs in the last over on any given day, but the two run-outs didn’t help us. In T20 cricket you can’t keep losing back-to-back wickets, it pushes you back. It’s one of the games where we ended on the losing side,” Pandya said after the match. 

Gujarat’s senior spinner Rashid Khan also admitted that the run outs took the match away.

Also read: Is Tim David becoming Mumbai Indians’ biggest regret in IPL 2022?

“Hardik and (Rahul) Tewatia’s run outs were the game changers. That is the beauty of T20 sometimes you can score 9 off 2 balls and sometimes you fail in scoring 9 off 6 balls,” the Afghan spinner said in a virtual press conference. 

Meanwhile Daniel Sams, who delivered the stunning last over,  said he was just trying to bowl his best balls.

“There is a lot to learn, not to repeat the negative things which we did in the last few games. I was looking to bowl my best balls in the final overs, kind a change the length a little bit, keep the ball away and bowl nice and slow and got a little bit of dip. For me it was a good time to reflect on my performances, what I do really well and execute those on the ground,” he said.