IPL 2025 Eliminator: Fierce pace duo, Bumrah-Boult gear up to face GT in Punjab

It’s going to be a Western Indian Derby when the Gujarat Titans take on the Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator of the IPL at the new PCA Stadium on Friday. The losers will bid goodbye to the tournament, while the winners will travel to Ahmedabad for Qualifier 2, to be played on Sunday. MI are bidding to hit the IPL for a six, having already won the coveted title five times, the last one coming in 2020, while GT, led by new Indian Test captain Shubman Gill, will be out to thwart their designs and keep their hopes of a second title alive. IPL 2025: Fierce pace duo, Jasprit Bumrah-Trent Boult gear up to face GT in Eliminator

GT openers Sai Sudharsan (left) and Shubman Gill who have put on three 100-plus run partnerships this season. Pic/AFP

Early wickets vital

MI will be wary of GT on two counts. Firstly, GT openers Gill and rising star Sai Sudharsan more often than not have given their team solid starts. The duo is in phenomenal form and currently are the top two run-getters, with Sudharsan heading the list with 679 runs from 14 matches, followed by Gill with 649. MI thus have their task cut out and know exactly where to strike to gain the upper hand. That job will have to be performed by the MI pace bowling pair of Jasprit Bumrah (with 17 wickets) and Trent Boult (with 19 scalps). Their bowling prowess has been largely responsible for the revival of MI after they had made their customary poor start before recovering to just about make it to the Playoffs. 

Rohit Sharma

GT ahead in head-to-head

Secondly, GT have an upper hand in head-to-head battles between the two sides. Of the seven matches between the two, GT have triumphed five times while MI have won just twice. Thus, both the momentum and history are with the young GT team, which has been well guided by their hands-on coach Ashish Nehra. 
MI, on the other hand, have their concerns. Their batting has not been as consistent as they would have liked, relying mostly on Suryakumar Yadav, who is third in the list after the GT duo. Suryakumar Yadav has 640 runs in 14 matches so far and he is the one who has given the fillip to the batting time and again. But all eyes will be on former Indian Test captain Rohit Sharma, who has the knack of being a big-match player. He showed that quality in the Champions Trophy in Dubai, where he played a substantial role with the bat in the semi-final as well as the final. Thus, if he gets going, it will be half the battle won for MI. 

It will also be the first time the new Test captain Gill and Rohit, the person he has replaced, will be face to face after the former was named skipper for the upcoming Test series in England. Rohit is at the fag end of this illustrious career, while Gill is slated to be the next big name to rule Indian cricket over the next decade. Thus, before he embarks on the challenging assignment in England, Gill would be eager to get the better of MI and hopefully win GT another IPL title. It’s not going to be easy, but he would give it his best shot.

36
Total scalps for MI pace duo Bumrah and Boult this season