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Rohit Sharma hammered 81 runs from 50 balls, and Jasprit Bumrah finished with figures of 1 for 27 to seal MI’s stunning victory by 20 runs over GT in the IPL 2025 Eliminator.
Jasprit Bumrah (L) stares into Washington Sundar’s soul after his match-changing wicket in the IPL 2025 Eliminator. (PC: Sportzpics)
Mumbai Indians needed a big knock from Rohit Sharma in the first knockout match of IPL 2025, and the 38-year-old right-handed batter lived up to the billing by scoring 81 runs from just 50 balls on Friday (May 30). Rohit’s super show with the bat helped MI successfully defend the target of 229 runs and get the better of Gujarat Titans by 20 runs to keep alive their hopes of a sixth IPL title.
The former MI skipper made a cautious start in the eliminator match at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, New Chandigarh, and after getting two lifelines – first on 3 by Gerald Coetzee and second on 12 by Kusal Mendis – he made the Shubman Gill-led side pay.
The six-time IPL winner hammered fours and sixes for fun and at will and, in the process, also completed 7000 runs and 300 sixes in the world’s richest franchise cricket league. He is the second batter after Virat Kohli to cross the 7000-run mark and the second batter after Chris Gayle to join the 300-sixes club.
Rohit added 84 runs from the first wicket in 44 balls with England wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow. The former SRH and PBKS batter, who joined MI as a temporary replacement for Ryan Rickelton, amassed a total of 47 runs from 22 balls in his first match for the Mumbai-based franchise.
After Bairstow’s wicket, Rohit joined hands with Suryakumar Yadav, and the duo added 59 runs in 34 balls for the 2nd wicket.
Rohit completed his 47th IPL fifty in 28 balls by hitting a four on the first ball of the 10th over bowled by Rashid Khan. Surya was unlucky to miss out on a deserving fifty. He was dismissed for 33 runs from 20 balls by R Sai Kishore. During his stay at the crease, Surya, who has crossed the 25-run mark in all 15 matches played so far in this year’s IPL, hammered one four and three sixes.
Rohit was the third MI batter to get out. In an attempt to hit a six, he was caught by Rashid Khan off Prasidh Krishna’s bowling. After Rohit’s dismissal, MI lost Tilak Varma and Naman Dhir in quick succession, but Hardik Pandya hammered Coetzee for three sixes in the last over to take MI’s total to 228 for 5.
For Titans, Prasidh and Sai Kishore picked up two wickets each, but they conceded 53 and 42 runs, respectively, in their quota of four overs.
In the 229-run chase, GT needed a big start from Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudharsan, but GT skipper Gill was sent back to the pavilion for 1 off two balls by Trent Boult on the fourth ball of the first over.
However, his wicket had no impact on Sudharsan, who added 64 runs in just 34 balls for the 2nd wicket with Kusal Mendis (20 from 10 balls) and 84 runs from 44 balls for the third wicket with Washington Sundar (48 from 24 balls) to keep the match alive.
While Kusal got hit-wicket out, Bumrah bowled a yorker to breach Sundar’s defence and shatter his stumps.
Sai completed his half-century with a boundary on the last ball of the seventh over. He crossed the 50-run mark in 28 balls (8 fours and one six) but was clean bowled by Richard Gleeson for 80 runs from 49 balls on the fourth ball of the 16th over of the run chase.
GT needed 36 runs in the last two overs to win the match, but Boult got Sherfane Rutherford caught out for 24 (from 15 balls) by Tilak Varma on the first ball of the penultimate over of the run chase.
Mumbai Indians will now take on Punjab Kings in Qualifier 2 on Sunday, June 1, in Ahmedabad, and the winner of that fixture will be up against RCB in the IPL 2025 final on Tuesday, June 3, at Narendra Modi Stadium.
- Location :
Chandigarh, India, India
- First Published:
