Watch: Sai Sudharsan gets out in bizarre fashion against Mumbai Indians | Cricket

Gujarat Titans kept losing wickets, including two run-outs in the closing minutes as Mumbai Indians recorded a five-run win out of nowhere and stunned the table-toppers at the Brabourne Stadium on Friday. While the IPL newbies seemed confident to chase down 177 total, with openers Wriddhiman Saha (55 off 40 balls) and Shubman Gill (52 from 36 deliveries) laying the perfect foundation. (IPL 2022 Full Coverage)

But the Titans crumbled under pressure to lose regular wickets towards the end and endure a second successive defeat. The Saha-Gill pair added a century stand for the opening wicket but its quick exit resulted in two new batters at the crease. Sai Sudharsan and skipper Hardik Pandya were in the middle with their team still needing 67 runs off remaining seven overs.

Sudharsan, however, made his way back after a bizarre hit-wicket terminated his stay. The left-handed batter tried to execute a pull shot against Kieron Pollard’s slower delivery but ended up disturbing the stumps with his bat. It was the first hit-wicket dismissal of the ongoing IPL season.

Jonny Bairstow was the previous cricketer to get out in a similar fashion in the IPL. The Englishman last year disturbed the stumps with his back leg and was left with no other option than to walk back. Notably, Hardik is also a part of the unwanted list. The former Mumbai Indians all-rounder was the first player to face the hit-wicket situation in the 2020 IPL edition.

Last five hit-wicket dismissals in the IPL

2019: Riyan Parag

2020: Hardik Pandya

2020: Rashid Khan

2021: Jonny Bairstow

2022: Sai Sudharsan*

While Sudharsan perished for just 14, the onus was on Hardik to keep his team alive in the run-chase. But the GT skipper fell short after going for an unnecessary single. Mumbai eventually found an unlikely hero in Daniel Sams. The left-arm quick denied the opposition with just three runs in the 20th over that included Rahul Tewatia’s run-out.

“It’s one of the games where we ended on the losing side. We kind of played 19.2 or 19.3 overs of good cricket, but losing wickets didn’t help us as I said before. At one point I thought they would post more than 200, but our bowlers did well to restrict them,” said Hardik on the narrow defeat.

Earlier, Tim David’s unbeaten 44 off 21 balls guided Mumbai Indians to 177 for six. Rohit also shone with the bat with a brisk 43 at the top. Ishan, who top-scored with 45, also helped the five-time champions put up a competitive total on the scoreboard.