By Prakash Nair 
Ahmedabad, April 20: Four losses in a row. A captain with no answers. Their greatest bowler has yet to take a single wicket all season. And tonight, the Mumbai Indians have to travel to Ahmedabad, a city where the Gujarat Titans have beaten them every time they have come visiting.
Someone in the MI camp must be wondering how it got this bad this fast.
GT are a completely different story. They have won three games on the trot, used barely thirteen players all season, and their captain is currently the highest run-scorer in the entire tournament. They come into tonight’s game the way a well-rested boxer comes into a fight, loose, confident, and knowing exactly what they want to do.
MI come in like someone who has not slept in a week.
Ahmedabad Is GT’s Living Room. MI Have Never Won Here.
Four times, the Mumbai Indians have come to the Narendra Modi Stadium to play the Gujarat Titans. Four times they have gone home empty-handed. That is not a coincidence. That is a pattern.
The head-to-head overall is 5-3 in GT’s favour. Yes, MI beat GT in last year’s IPL Eliminator, but that was a knockout match, a completely different kind of pressure cooker. In regular league games at this ground, MI have simply not figured out how to beat these people.
The wicket at Ahmedabad usually plays into the hands of the team batting first. But April evenings bring dew, and dew changes everything. The ball gets wet, slower balls lose their bite, spinners cannot grip, and suddenly the team chasing has a big advantage. Both captains will be wrestling with this exact thought at the toss. Scores here have been regularly crossing 195 this season. Expect the boundaries to get a workout tonight.
GT’s Last Game: Gill Was Just Toying With Them
GT played the Kolkata Knight Riders four days ago. KKR came in desperate for a win. GT came in looking to make it three in a row. By the time it was over, GT had chased down 181 in 19.4 overs and won by five wickets.
Shubman Gill scored 86 off 50 balls against his old franchise. Eight fours. Four sixes. There were moments in his innings where it genuinely looked like he was batting in slow motion compared to everyone else like the game was running at normal speed and he was running at 1.5x. Completely in control, never flustered, finding gaps that did not look like they existed.
That innings took his season total to 251 runs from just four innings. His scores this season read 39, 70, 56, 86. Every single innings bigger than the one before. He passed Virat Kohli on the Orange Cap leaderboard with that knock. At this rate, he is not going to give that cap up easily.
Jos Buttler has been another quiet problem for opposition sides. A lot of people wrote him off after a difficult T20 World Cup. He has answered that with two half-centuries and 201 runs for GT this season. Sai Sudharsan at the top is compact and watchable and very hard to dislodge. When those three are all finding their touch, GT’s chase management becomes almost boring to watch in the best possible way.
Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj did what they have been doing all season with the ball. Came hard, moved the ball both ways, and had KKR’s top three back in the pavilion before the fourth over was done. Rabada took three. Siraj took two. Prasidh Krishna and Ashok Sharma kept things tight after that. Rashid Khan was not at his absolute best but gave nothing away either.
Nobody panic-bought. Nobody tried to be the hero. Just clean, disciplined cricket.
MI’s Last Game: A Hundred That Changed Nothing
April 16. Mumbai Indians versus Punjab Kings at the Wankhede. On paper, a home game. In reality, another nightmare.
The only reason this game did not turn into a proper hammering with the bat was Quinton de Kock. Rohit Sharma was injured and sat out, so de Kock opened in his place and batted the entire twenty overs for an unbeaten 112. In a collapsing innings, in T20 cricket, that is a genuinely special performance. He held the whole thing together by himself.
MI got to 195 for 6.
Punjab Kings got there with 21 balls to spare.
Arshdeep Singh hit the stumps and found edges early on. Shreyas Iyer settled into his groove in the chase and started playing shots all around the ground. Prabhsimran Singh kept him company. Dew came rolling in. MI’s bowlers started trying slower deliveries and slower balls that were neither slow enough nor accurate enough, and Punjab’s batsmen kept punching them through the gaps. It was not a contest. Not really.
After the game, Hardik Pandya sat in front of the cameras and said his team needed to look internally, figure out where they were going wrong, and that ownership had to be taken. He had nothing more specific than that. Mahela Jayawardene said the other teams in this IPL are just more clinical. Both statements are true. Neither of them is a solution.
Where Is Everyone? The Injury and Availability Chaos
Rohit Sharma got a hamstring injury in the RCB game on April 12 and has not played since. Hardik confirmed at the toss against Punjab that Rohit would miss at least two matches. On Sunday, MI bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said Rohit was back batting in the nets, which at least means the door is slightly open for a return tonight. But no one has officially confirmed anything, and until the toss, his availability is genuinely uncertain.
When Rohit sits out, MI’s entire XI becomes a puzzle nobody has a clean solution to. De Kock came in against Punjab, which immediately meant Trent Boult had to sit out because you can only play four overseas players. One injury. Two disruptions. That kind of chain reaction has been following MI around all season like a bad smell.
Mitchell Santner missed the Punjab game due to illness but is reportedly fit now. Will Jacks, the England batter who was supposed to give MI’s middle order more muscle, still has not arrived. No update, no timeline, no explanation. It has been weeks. At some point, the silence says everything.
The Bumrah Thing. Because We Have to Talk About It.
There is no nice way to frame this.
Jasprit Bumrah, the best T20 fast bowler on the planet, the man who has won India matches almost by himself on multiple occasions has bowled 114 deliveries in IPL 2026 across five matches.
He has not taken a single wicket.
Not one. Not an edge that flew to the keeper. Not a straight one that rapped the pads. Nothing.
Multiple reports suggest this is the longest wicketless spell of his entire IPL career. And it is happening right now, when his team needs him the most. Trent Boult averages 110 with the ball this season. Deepak Chahar averages 87. Hardik Pandya averages 67. As a bowling unit, MI’s pacers collectively average 65.81. The next worst team in the competition is averaging 37.41. That is not a small gap. That is a chasm.
Now put that bowling attack up against a GT top order that has been among the most consistent batting units in this season’s IPL.
The numbers are not encouraging for Mumbai.
That said, and this matters, Bumrah is not broken. He has been through quiet spells before and come out the other side looking unplayable. He is still difficult to score off. The wickets will come. The only question is whether they come tonight or after MI’s season is already over.
GT’s Bowling: The Best in the Business Right Now
Everything that is broken about MI’s bowling is the exact opposite of what GT have been doing.
GT’s pace-bowling average of 24.89 is the best among all ten teams in IPL 2026. Siraj, Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, and Ashok Sharma have played every single game. Thirteen players were used all season. That kind of settled, consistent selection is almost impossible to find in T20 cricket at this level, where teams are constantly tinkering and rotating.
Prasidh Krishna has been the standout. Eleven wickets in five matches at an average of 16.73. He won the Purple Cap last season and is right back in that conversation this year. He is the kind of bowler who does not look intimidating on the highlights reel but somehow keeps popping up when a partnership needs breaking or a lower-order batsman needs to be cleaned up. He takes his wickets in moments that actually change games.
Siraj, in the first six overs, has been a joy to watch even when the wickets have not fallen. His economy of 7.41 in the powerplay is among the best in the competition. He moves the ball, bowls on a full length, and makes batsmen play. MI’s top order, already under enough pressure, is going to find him uncomfortable.
And then there is Rashid Khan, who has 24 wickets at this specific ground across his IPL career. If MI’s middle order has to come in and rebuild at any point tonight, Rashid will be exactly the bowler GT throw into the attack. He was slightly off his best last season. This year he is back, tighter, meaner, and more dangerous through the middle overs.
Three Moments That Could Change Everything
Gill versus Bumrah in the powerplay. This is the matchup the entire stadium will be watching. Bumrah has taken Gill’s wicket twice in their career battles. He is going to be absolutely gunning for him tonight a wicket in the first six overs, especially that wicket, would give MI genuine belief and shake GT’s comfortable rhythm. If Gill survives and settles, the game effectively starts tilting one way. Both men have something serious to prove tonight.
Suryakumar Yadav versus Rashid Khan in the middle overs. SKY is the kind of batsman who can make even a great spinner look ordinary for an over, then get himself out trying something ridiculous the next. Rashid is the kind of bowler who is perfectly happy to wait. He sets his traps patiently, varies his pace quietly, and collects his wicket when the moment arrives. Their duel, if MI bat and if SKY is in when Rashid is bowling, will be fascinating.
Sherfane Rutherford batting with something actually at stake. He made 71 off 31 balls against Punjab. He walked in with the chase already basically lost and still nearly made it interesting. Imagine what he could do with real responsibility, real overs ahead of him, and a game that still genuinely needs winning. GT’s death bowlers are good. Rabada and Prasidh are excellent under pressure. But Rutherford in full flow is a real handful for anyone.
Likely XIs
Gujarat Titans: Shubman Gill (c), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tewatia, M Shahrukh Khan, Rashid Khan, Ashok Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma or Ryan Rickelton, Quinton de Kock (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya (c), Sherfane Rutherford, Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult or Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur or Allah Ghazanfar.
(Rohit’s fitness gets confirmed at the toss. Until then, both XIs are educated guesses.)
The Numbers in Short
| Category | Gujarat Titans | Mumbai Indians |
|---|---|---|
| Last 5 Matches | W W W L L | L L L L W |
| Squad Used This Season | 13 Players | 17 Players |
| Pace Bowling Average | 24.89 (Best in League) | 65.81 (Worst in League) |
| Runs Leader | Shubman Gill — 251 runs | Quinton de Kock — 112* (last game) |
| Wickets Leader | Prasidh Krishna — 11 wickets | Jasprit Bumrah — 0 wickets |
| Record vs MI in Ahmedabad | 4 Wins, 0 Losses | 0 Wins, 4 Losses |
So What Actually Happens Tonight?
GT should win this. Everything points that way the form, the home record, the bowling attack, the captain who cannot stop scoring runs. If this match is played on paper, it is not even close.
But MI still have Rohit potentially coming back. They still have Bumrah, who is overdue. They still have Suryakumar, who, on his day, can win a T20 match before the 12th over. The talent inside that dressing room is real. The results just have not shown it.
What MI need tonight is simple and complicated at the same time. They need everything to click at once batting, bowling, fielding, and energy. They need the same evenings that Gill, Rabada, and Prasidh have been having, but from their own players. And they need it to happen in a ground where they have lost every single time.
That is a lot to ask. But cricket has a funny habit of ignoring what is being asked of it.
Toss at 7:00 PM IST. First ball at 7:30 PM IST. Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
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- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
