“Deepak did that job for us when Booms [Jasprit Bumrah] was not there [for the first few games of the season],” Jayawardene stated during the news conference following the game, which broke MI’s winning streak at six. “Our top bowler, he was good. You can ask me that question more easily, and I can respond, “Yeah, maybe Hardik.” You might have questioned me why you didn’t bowl Deepak if Hardik had hit three sixes. I’d rather not go to it.
Mumbai Indians (MI) had a few alternatives on where to toss the ball when the rain stopped and Gujarat Titans (GT) needed 15 to win off six balls. Only two had been bowled by Deepak Chahar. Only one had been bowled by Hardik Pandya. Between them, the spinners Karn Sharma and Will Jacks had only claimed three wickets. It was between Chahar and Hardik since the bowler had to be quick, and MI went with Chahar. In a later explanation, MI head coach Mahela Jayawardene stated that Chahar was “our main bowler” at the time, but Katey Martin was certain that “you always want your skipper to step up” in these circumstances.
However, MI appeared to have decided that it would be Chahar before the team left for that final over following the most recent weather delay, which moved the Tuesday game to Wednesday. In a seesawing match, GT was home off the final ball after a four and a six were scored and a no-ball was bowled.
“When we had to attack during the game, we made some wise choices with the ball. Deepak’s performance: he missed a few balls, they made some nice shots, and we also bowled a no-ball, but we still reached the final ball.
“It was the execution, not the choice. We lost the game because of that. In my opinion, it was sad that we lost the game while we were in control of it.
Speaking on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out show, Martin responded to the topic of why not Hardik by saying, “He usually bowls the vital over. I also understand that he had a few previously. However, you do want your skipper to step up at all times. With three wides and two no-balls, Hardik’s lone over of the match had gone for eighteen runs.
Martin concurred with her panellist Abhinav Mukund that MI had slowed down their pace during the middle overs of GT’s pursuit.
“I felt they just let the game drift a little bit in that middle phase,” Abhinav stated. When it comes to their bowling strategy, they prefer to utilise Bumrah towards the end of the powerplay, followed by perhaps one in the middle overs, one at the end, or possibly two at the end, because they have a predetermined plan, just like the Gujarat Titans have a predetermined plan with their top three.
“The Gujarat Titans pushed them to alter their original plan. However, if you look at how many runs were leaked between Bumrah’s overs, you can see that he went three and five before a quick 37-run burst in three overs [six to eight]. After that, there was another run-spike [28 runs in overs 13 and 14] until Bumrah finally recovered. Thus… I am aware of the cheat code and all, but you also need to manage your other bowlers. With Ashwani Kumar, they were fortunate to go 2 for 28 in four.
After weather forced the chase to be a 19-over contest, MI went in search of wickets, forcing Bumrah and Trent Boult to bowl out by the 17th over. This left Chahar, who usually specialises in powerplay, and Hardik as the primary alternatives for the final over. After replacing Corbin Bosch because to a concussion, Ashwani did a good job of taking two wickets and bowling economically.
In the period preceding the last overs, MI was essentially up against the odds, and he delivered. It was 1 for 6 over No. 15. It was 1 for 7 over No. 17. Shahrukh Khan and Shubman Gill have left. In order to get MI there, Bumrah did swing the game and the DLS equation.
“That’s the thing with Bumrah, right, he has the extraordinary skill and capability to change his length based on the batter,” said Abhinav. He went for four after going a little full and missing the yorker, which I believe he still lacks confidence in even after seven games after his injury. So he said, ‘Let me go back to lengths, let me cramp them, because that’s what I did to Shubman and Jos Buttler in the first two overs of the spell.’ So he returned there. And he consistently hits the ball with that.
Shahrukh didn’t make sense in continuing, but I’ve witnessed him do it several times in an attempt to dominate the game. You’re hardly the world’s greatest boss, are you?
In a game when batting was anything from easy—it was swinging around more than halfway into the second innings—Gill was playing an ODI-style innings until he was out, scoring less than a run per ball and doing exactly what GT needed to remain ahead of the DLS par score.
“The ball deviated a lot and nipped back in quite a bit, and he was literally nowhere,” Martin said of Bumrah’s knockdown of Gill with a ball that nipped back in and sped off the surface. “The unbelievable part is that you can look so good and elegant as Gill has throughout the whole IPL,” Martin said. “There was concrete in Gill’s feet, and it was all about his hands trying to get the bat on the ball.
“That’s what Bumrah does; with his extra pace, intelligence in his bowling, and fire, he can make even the world’s top hitters seem foolish. He simply has the passion for Mumbai to win the match. Also, I believe Trent Boult’s backup over [the 16th, which removed Sherfane Rutherford] and Ashwani’s subsequent wicket [Ashwani dismissing Rashid Khan]. Ashwani wasn’t even supposed to play; he was brought on as a concussion substitute at the midway point. The Mumbai Indians’ ability to take a few wickets while remaining frugal, in my opinion, simply goes to demonstrate that they are always in the game.”
They weren’t. Until the final over. A bad choice? Bad performance? If Hardik, who is more accustomed to bowling in the final overs, had taken Chahar’s place, we’ll never know what would have happened.
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