GT vs MI IPL 2026 highlights Mumbai Indians beat Gujarat Titans by 99 runs in Ahmedabad

Ashwani Kumar has picked up Shahrukh Khan, another middle-order batter who needed a score, who has failed for the Titans today. It was a short ball from the bowler, and he pulled it straight to fine-leg. It is a pretty disappointing batting performance from the Titans. They won the toss and opted to bowl first and started well, but once that Tilak Varma innings came, there was a huge momentum shift. It does seem like one of those innings from Tilak Varma which might not just turn around this game but the campaign.

It is important now from here on that Mumbai presses and closes this game out and wins with the biggest margin. Sometimes we have seen in the past partnerships from here on can flourish, while Gujarat might not end up winning the game, but they can reduce their own margin, which might come in handy for them in terms of Net Run Rate. All the games they have been involved in this season have been the closer ones for the Titans a big margin defeat here them will be like a double blow in many aspects for them.

Ghazanfar has come into the attack despite the bowling woes Mumbai has had this season. The off-spinner has been consistent, and his mystery has worked quite well, and it is Mitchell Santer who has come into the attack from the other end. It is very strange how times have changed, Mumbai Indians have know to play with two overseas seamers over the years but here today they have two overseas spinners. As we update Naman Dhir has plucked a stunner to get rid of Sundar. Well it is all going Mumbai's way at the moment.

Hardik Pandya's delivery came into Jos Buttler, who tried to play the ball on the leg-side and missed it completely. It is one of those things with Buttler in his initial phase of the innings, where he struggles a touch with the ball coming back in. However, since that wicket, Gujarat has slammed a few boundaries and looked to counter. Washington Sundar is the batter in the middle. He has time to play a good knock here. This is a good batting track and there is dew so it is onot over yet from the Titans perspective they need a partnership.

Just glad all the hard work paid off. Good knock from Tilak. It's very doable, we can chase it down. I think the secret is that they are ramping up the speed. I am just glad that everything is working out. We know the game of cricket. I am glad that all the hard work's paying off. It's going my way a little bit, I am just glad it is. Bowling with the new ball, that's the period to attack. You need to stick to the simple stuff, aim at the top of off. That's the heart of bowling, just controlling the length and line. You will get rewarded.

Mohammed Siraj has picked up Hardik Pandya to break the partnership. To be fair to Hardik, the bulk of the contributor in that partnership was Tilak. Nevertheless, a good supporting hand from the skipper. Sherfane Rutherford is the new man in and Prasidh will bowl the final over for the Mumbai Indians.

Mumbai Indians need to get to 180+ total here. Yes, the conditions have been difficult to bat on, but Shubman Gill did mention there might be dew coming in the second innings, then that will make that 180 look like 160, and it does seem like, at this point, on the evidence of what has happened in this first innings, the Mumbai Indians have made a selection error going with two spinners. It will be interesting to know what has happened with Trent Boult he has been not part of the side for a while. They have debutant who needs to bowl well. As we update Tilak gets to his 50.

Prasidh Krishna has broken the partnership yet again, like many times he did before in this tournament. He dug the delivery into the surface, which Naman tried to play the ball and was caught on the boundary. Just when it seemed like the partnership was growing nicely, GT has picked up another wicket. Skipper Hardik Pandya has walked into the middle it will be intresting to see how he will approach this innings because it does seem like Tilak Varma has been assigned the role of an anchor so Hardik might play a few more shots.

Gujarat Titans have been on a winning streak coming into this game, and they have started with the same confidence here. And as per the Mumbai Indians, so far they have played like a side they have been fumbling in the tournament. Important innings this for Tilak in the past, playing for India and Mumbai, he has shown he can build an innings and play the anchor role, and with the early fall of wickets, that is what Mumbai needs. And also intresting this is one of the six-hitting grounds down the area because of the shorter boundaries.

Quinton de Kock cuts the ball before getting out, and the ball after Rabada persisted with his length, which De Kock tried to pull and got it high on the bat, and Rabada completed the catch. Once again, he did the job here, as Rabada picked up early wickets for the Titans. Mumbai Indians 30 minutes into the evening are already behind in this contest. They need a partnership here between Naman Dhir and Suryakumar Yadav. There might be a dew in the second innings and it is a bit of strange call from Hardik Pandya to go with two finger spinners in the team.

Mohammed Siraj has taken the new ball for the Gujarat Titans. There is not a lot of swing and seam on offer to him, as it is a black soil with a bit of green grass, which seems to be used more as a binder for the surface. The Titans used a similar play last season against the Mumbai Indians to counter their power hitters. It will be interesting to see how things will play out. Regardless of the surface, Mumbai need to bat and bowl better than what they have been doing this tournament so far. As we update, Rabada has picked up Danish Malewar.

Let’s start with the dimensions, it's quite interesting. The longer side boundary, especially on my right, is 70 meters. On my left is the shorter one at 64 meters. A six-meter difference, which could play a big role. Straight down the ground is 74 meters. We will get to this pitch because it’s actually a fascinating-looking surface. But just on the topic of dimensions and tactics, GT have used it really well, especially Prasidh Krishna. Since the start of 2025, he has taken 21 wickets with the short ball. So regardless of whether it’s a black-soil or red-soil pitch, they could turn to him again for that tactic. This is black soil - Odisha black, and it looks quite interesting. There are a lot of cracks here. It looks like one of those old WACA Ground wickets in Perth from back in the day. Very platey, with plenty of open cracks and grass, but the grass is well rolled in. So it is hard, you can hear it, it’s really hard. There’s only one area of concern down there where, on a length, there’s a slightly wider crack that looks a bit loose. But overall, I think it will play well. Strangely enough, it looks like a surface where you could chase, but teams batting first have won 8 out of 11 times here. This Odisha black soil usually plays better than it looks. But if you’re batting first, which you probably should at this venue, make sure you get more than 180. If you get around 200, you’re in safe territory. Anything less than that, and you could be in trouble

We would have fielded as well. It’s obviously the last game for us as a group. We had to regroup and speak about what Mumbai Indians stands for and what kind of game we want to play. And we had a good amount of chats. People are looking forward to the game. (You have bounced back from such situations before?) Yeah, most often than not. So this time we want to make sure that we start the winning form and make sure that we play some good cricket and tick boxes whenever we are supposed to tick. And yeah, just backing each other, sticking by each other. There will be tough times, but yeah, just stand with each other and go out and play some good cricket. (Areas of improvement) I think we need to play overall better cricket, I can’t pinpoint one factor. As I’ve said earlier, we win together, we lose together. So as a group, we need to get better. It's a fresh day. Sun has risen again and just a positive way. A couple of debuts for us. Danish (Malewar) makes his Mumbai Indians debut. And Krish (Bhagat) as well, who was part of the support bowlers, really impressed us. He got into the team three days back and such is life that he’s playing today.

"You look right through the IPL and there's quite a lot of the Indian players from the T20 World Cup that are not having amazing campaigns. So, it shows you there's a level. When the team has done such great things and has had such success, how do you make sure your desire and your hunger is as much, because we're not machines, right? We're human beings. So how do you maximize your intensity, your hunger to do well every game?

"Him and a lot of the other guys in the other teams as well, Shreyas Iyer, Rajat Patidar. So, there's a younger captain generation coming in and saying, listen, 'I want to put my name in the hat'. And Gill is one of those players. He's almost gone from flying a season or two ago to be the opener for India to dropping down to almost two or three names down the pecking order.

“On Rohit, he started running yesterday… it’s on a day-to-day basis to see how he feels. It’s nothing serious but at the same time we don’t want to push,” Jayawardene said.

“We haven’t been able to penetrate opposition so that’s something that we really have to work harder and see how we can improve on that,” he said, summarising a bowling unit that has struggled to break through.

“We did try some combinations and some of those combinations were forced on us because of injuries and players not available,” Jayawardene said.

Leading into the T20 World Cup, Tilak Varma was identified as India’s No.3 option, given his ability to play the big innings at the top of the order. However, after a lean run in the early stages of the tournament, he was pushed down the order, batting at Nos. 5 and 6 in the latter half of the tournament.

That lack of clarity has carried into IPL 2026. Tilak has batted at No. 4 in three out of MI’s four matches, slotted in at No. 3 against Delhi Capitals, and was pushed down to No. 7 against Punjab Kings.

The constant shuffling has impacted his returns, with the left-hander managing just 43 runs in five matches so far.

Last season’s batting mainstay, Suryakumar Yadav, has had a slow start as the team’s primary number three batsman. The 35-year-old has made 55 runs in four matches in that position this season at an average of 13.75 and a strike rate of 161.76. In comparison, he enjoyed a more fruitful run at number three, between 2023 and 2025, where he made 669 runs in 18 matches at a strike rate of 176.90.

Surya’s best return this season has come while batting at number four, where he scored 51 against Delhi Capitals in MI’s second match of IPL 2026.

The new ball bowling pair of Deepak Chahar and Trent Boult have seen their powerplay prowess sharply decline in IPL 2026. Between 2023 and 2025, Chahar took 23 wickets in 32 innings at 8.49. In IPL 2026, those numbers have come down to one wicket at an economy rate of 12 runs per over.

Boult led the powerplay IPL charts between 2023 and 2025 with 32 scalps in 41 matches at an economy rate of 7.48. In IPL 2026, the impact has fallen drastically as the left-arm pacer is yet to take his first wicket and was omitted from the playing squad for MI’s last match against PBKS.

"There is no panic in the team. It's a tough format - you're going to face strong opponents, and if you don't turn up and play your best cricket, you won't win. That's the reality. For us, it's about looking back at what we're doing, identifying the areas and departments where we can improve consistently, and working on them. That's how we're approaching it."

Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dhir, Hardik Pandya (c), Sherfane Rutherford, Tilak Varma, Mayank Rawat, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, AM Ghazanfar