Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans produced a mouthwatering, high-scoring affair in the Eliminator of IPL 2025 on Friday, May 30. With the IPL trophy dream on the line, the two teams put their best foot forward. However, MI edged ahead with a 20-run win after defending 228 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, New Chandigarh.
Led by a stellar batting performance from former skipper Rohit Sharma (81 runs off 50 balls) and a come-from-behind bowling performance from the likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Richard Gleeson and Trent Boult, MI denied a strong GT batting unit to gun down the target despite Sai Sudharsan and Washington Sundar looking in a good position to take the game away. In the end, GT huffed and puffed to 208/6 and went down by 20 runs.
Meanwhile, the two teams have shattered a historic record in IPL playoffs with their run-scoring fixture. The clash aggregated 436 runs, which are now the most in an IPL playoff game, surpassing the previous record of 428, set by Chennai Super Kings and then-Kings XI Punjab in Qualifier 2 in 2014. In that game, Punjab had put up 226/6 led by Virender Sehwag's 122, while Suresh Raina's epic 25-ball 87 took Chennai close, but only to 202/7 as they went down by 24 runs.
Coming back to the GT vs MI clash, MI marched their way into Qualifier 2 to set up a clash against Punjab Kings. Rohit Sharma was adjudged the Player of the Match for his 81, which helped MI put up the second-highest total in playoffs history.
Bumrah, Boult and Gleeson played crucial roles with the ball in the defence. The ultra-consistent Sudharsan was threatening to take the game away from MI despite Boult having removed Shubman Gill in the first over. He put up 64 runs for the second wicket with Kusal Mendis, before putting up an 86-run stand for the third wicket with Sundar.
Bumrah broke the threatening partnership by removing Sundar in the 14th over before Gleeson got the prized wicket of Sudharsan for 80 in the 16th over. Sherfane Rutherford, Rahul Tewatia and Shahrukh Khan tried their best to keep the game alive, but it was not to be for GT.