How MI came undone against Titans pacers and home advantage

Gujarat Titans were unreservedly unapologetic about exploiting home advantage. They also had no qualms about admitting that they used something 'black' to stifle the Mumbai Indians batters. It certainly paid off at Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday (March 29) night as they secured a 36-run victory, extending their stranglehold over Mumbai Indians at home.

"It is obviously black soil," revealed Parthiv Patel, the assistant coach of the Titans, discussing the crucial playing surface.

The Titans were well within their rights to have a pitch of their preference - after all, it's the home team's prerogative, regardless of controversies elsewhere. The Knight Riders are reportedly not getting their desired pitch at the Eden in Kolkata but that issue is not particularly relevant here.

"(This is) on a slower side, something which we wanted," Parthiv revealed. "Mumbai have been preparing themselves by playing on a red surface. It was a deliberate effort from our side. We wanted to play on a black soil. It's stopping a bit, slightly stickier to start with. From the first impression, there are a lot of cracks on the pitch."

Unlike the red soil pitch that MI are accustomed to at their home ground, the Wankhede, the black soil surface is not particularly conducive to stroke play. Just a few days ago, the Titans laid out a red soil wicket for their match against the Punjab Kings, resulting in a high-scoring contest with 475 runs combined. The visitors thrived on the surface and secured an 11-run victory. The Titans were wiser for the experience this time around.

On the black soil pitch, the ball holds up and comes onto the bat a little slower, conditions not particularly to the liking of the MI batters, who thrive on free-flowing stroke play. Much as the surface favored them, the GT bowlers still had to capitalize on the assistance. And they did so without fail on a night when the weather gods too seemed to be on their side - there was no serious dew to diminish their advantage.

The strategy worked perfectly as GT's pacers - Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada, and Ishant Sharma - tied the MI batters in knots. Combined, they returned figures of five for 111 in 14 overs at an economy rate of 7.92 when the asking rate in MI's chase was nearly 10 an over. Game, set and match.

Prasidh Krishna stands tall

Prasidh was the standout performer among the pacers, virtually unplayable on a surface which he deftly exploited with his subtle variations. With a high release point and a well-balanced mix of sharp wide deliveries, slow cutters, and perfectly pitched length balls, he made it nigh on impossible for the batters to execute their shots.

Surprisingly summoned as the sixth bowling option, the gangling pacer delivered three unplayable overs against the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya. Without conceding a single boundary in his first three overs, he finished with impressive figures of 2 for 18 in his allotment. That was pure gold against a side featuring some of the most feared white-ball batters.

"I think he did more than pretty well," GT skipper Shubman Gill said when asked if he felt Prasidh did 'pretty well' in the game. "He did a pretty amazing job for us to be able to come in like that in a pressure situation. And I think he changed the game for us. The way he bowled, I think he gave around 14 runs (18) out of which I think a couple of boundaries that he was hit for came in the last over. So I don't think in the first three overs he gave around six or seven runs (8). In a T20 game when the opposition is chasing 200, you know, the match is almost done and dusted there."

There was little doubt who should be the Player of the Match. "Right now I don't have any words," Prasidh said on receiving the honour. "I was actually itching to bowl. We were sitting and watching how the first innings went. So we understood that cutters into the wicket were working well," he said and went on to explain why he bowled slower deliveries more than faster ones. "I just figured that it was working well so I didn't want to test the speed gun and tried to keep it simple."

Siraj, Rabada and even veteran Ishant were as disciplined and did not overdo things. Siraj started the MI demolition by having one nip back in to Rohit Sharma in his first over and from that point, there was no stopping the Titans. Soon the other opener, Ryan Rickelton, was also bowled, leaving MI playing catch-up. Ishant produced one of the finest PowerPlay overs, conceding only two runs in the fourth over MI chase. They needed 197 and by the end of the sixth over, they were 48/2 with openers back and middle-order struggling on the sluggish black soil.

"Good tactics from the opposition," Trent Boult said, lauding the Titans' strategy. "If you've got those options to do that, it obviously makes sense. But I don't think we'll be using it as an excuse" the MI pacer from New Zealand said. "I thought they scrapped their way to a good total and they showed us how to bowl on that wicket. So full credit to them. I think it was just good thinking of using home tactics and your advantage. Obviously there should be an advantage for the home team but like I said, (it's) not an excuse from our point of view. We understood the wicket."

It was of course not all bowlers for GT - their batters did an equally commendable job by registering a competitive total. Openers Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarshan tackled the swing of Boult and Deepak Chahar in the early PowerPlay overs and then went after them. Their first wicket partnership was 78, a solid foundation to raise a good total which the later batters achieved and gave the bowlers something substantial to defend.

"The decision was taken before the first match that the second match will be played on black soil," Gill said of the team's long term planning. "Yes that was a factor as well but this wicket suits us. Once the ball gets old it's difficult to clear the boundary while batting on the black soil. So we tried to maximize the PowerPlay. We can all talk about plans but sometimes it goes your way and sometimes it doesn't."

Last night, it went their way, thanks largely to their batters and pacers - especially Prasidh Krishna.