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 Sudharsan 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. (ESPNcricinfo)
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