It’s the Qualifier-2 Match of IPL 2023 between the two champions i.e. Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians (GT vs MI) on 26th May 2023 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad. The home team, GT, after topping the IPL points table with 20 points in the league stage, lost the qualifier match against CSK by 15 runs. In the previous match, despite winning the toss, the captain chose to field first. CSK, which is known to be qualifier’s specialist, put a total of 172/7 with responsible performances from Ruturaj Gaikwad, who scored 60 off 44, and Devon Conway, 40 off 34.
Chasing this target, GT’s batting line up collapsed on 157 runs, with decent scores from the bat of Shubman Gill and Rashid Khan who scored 42 off 38 and 30 off 16 respectively.
Though the team has an intense batting line up but it failed in this crucial match. In the upcoming one, the Hardik Pandya led side would surely be playing with their full potential so as to outperform the opponents.
While MI on the other hand, ended the league stage at 4th position. The men in blue won the eliminator match against strong going LSG by a big margin of 81 runs, thereby kicking it out of the tournament. MI took a wise decision of batting first in the pitch where it was witnessed during qualifier-1 that how the batters struggled to score runs the second innings. MI put a decent score of 182/8 with last over 14 runs by the Impact player Nehal Wadhera.
Chasing a target of 182, LSG batting line up got ripped off by MI seamer Akash Madhwal for 5/5 which led to the LSG’s collapse on a mere 101 runs within 17th over. The Rohit Sharma led side would now be eyeing to knock down the title-holders GT in the upcoming game, so as to reach the final of IPL for the 7th time.
| Previous matches of both teams | Results |
|---|---|
 | GT lost by 15 runs |
 | MI won by 81 runs |
GT vs MI : Match Details
Venue: Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
Date: Friday, May 26, 2023
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Watch Live on: Star Sports Network & JioCinema
GT vs MI : Pitch Report
The wicket at Narendra Modi Stadium is favourable for batters. Since the ground has longer dimensions, it will make it difficult for batter to hit easy boundaries and most runs will come by finding gaps in the field. Additionally, both pacers and slow bowlers get help from the pitch which further adds to the difficulty for batters.
Dew will make it difficult for bowlers in the second innings.
The venue has witnessed a total of 25 IPL matches out of 12 have been won by the team batting first and 13 by the chasers.
Any score above 180 can be considered as a competitive one.
The captain winning the toss should opt to field first.
GT vs MI : Head to Head
Both the champions have encountered each other thrice in IPL history, out of which MI has taken the lead over GT by 2-1.
GT vs MI : Team XI Prediction
Gujarat Titans (GT)
- Wriddhiman Saha (WK)
- Shubman Gill
- Hardik Pandya (C)
- Vijay Shankar
- David Miller
- Rahul Tewatia
- Rashid Khan
- Joshua Little
- Mohit Sharma
- Noor Ahmad
- Mohammed Shami
Mumbai Indians (MI)
- Rohit Sharma (C)
- Ishan Kishan (WK)
- Cameron Green
- Suryakumar Yadav
- Tilak Verma
- Tim David
- Chris Jordan
- Hrithik Shokeen
- Piyush Chawla
- Akash Madhwal
- Jason Behrendorff
MI vs GT : Best Performers’ Prediction
Best Batsman
Shubman Gill
The ace GT batter is at his best throughout this IPL season as he scored 722 runs in 15 matches with an average of 55.54 and strike rate of 149.47. Currently, the 23-year-old batter is the top run scorer for his team and ranks 2nd in Orange Cap race. Gill has the potential to make any match one sided for his team which proved by hitting back to back tons in the previous matches. Since it’s a batters’ pitch today, the aggressive batter is expected to tear apart the opponents’ bowling attack and seal the top spot in Orange Cap rankings in the upcoming game.
Best Bowler
Rashid Khan
The ace Afghan all-rounder has become the spine of GT. Many a times throughout this league, he has given match winning performances. Currently, he’s placed 2nd in Purple Cap rankings with 25 wickets in 15 matches with an economy rate of 7.92. His spin variations and consistent unpredictable deliveries has caused trouble for the batters. Since today’s pitch is favourable for spinners, Khan is expected to bring causalities to the opponent batting line up.
GT vs MI : Match Winner Prediction
Gujarat Titans likely to win Qualifier-2 match
Disclaimer: The above predictions are based on personal understanding and analysis of the author. Kindly make your own decision while making any prediction based on the predictions mentioned above.