Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya - Mumbai Indians' old guard combined as they stormed into Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League.

Mumbai beat Gujarat Titans in a high-scoring thriller in Mullanpur, beating Shubman Gill's side by 20 runs on Friday. Playing on a flat batting deck, Mumbai first put up the second-highest playoffs total in the history of the tournament, and then weathered an incredible Sai Sudharsan storm to restrict GT to 208/6 on Friday.

Rohit Sharma starred with the bat, hitting 81 runs off 50 balls, guiding Mumbai to a massive total of 228 runs, and then, it was once again Jasprit Bumrah, whose one over (16th), completely changed the complexion of the game.

With the victory, Mumbai kept their incredible resurgent season alive, where they have come back from a horror start where they lost 4 out of their first 5 games. The team will now face Shreyas Iyer's Punjab Kings, who were hammered by Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Qualifier 1 of the tournament.

Sai Sudharsan: The Best of IPL 2025

Gujarat could have crumbled early against the Mumbai Indians. They lost their talisman Shubman Gill in the very first over of the chase, against Trent Boult, like many other teams in the tournament.

With the absence of Jos Buttler in the line-up, it was unlikely that Gujarat would have chased down the highest-ever target in the IPL playoffs. However, Sai Sudharsan, the leading run-scorer in this season of the tournament, once again showed his class, driving the team's chase at the Mullanpur Stadium.

Sudharsan's calculated attack against the MI bowlers became the trademark of his innings, as GT continued to chase at 10 runs per over, despite not having their full-strength batting line-up on the day.

Sudharsan and Shubman have made a name for themselves by playing low-risk cricket. The same was on display once again as Sudharsan batted at a high strike rate, despite hitting just 1 six in his innings.

The left-hander partnered with debutant Kusal Mendis to score 64 off 34 balls, and then with Washington Sundar to add another 84 off 44. This kept Gujarat in the hunt for the improbable chase.

Bar Jasprit Bumrah, no other bowler, was safe in the Mumbai line-up as Sai Sudharsan led the charge till the 14th over of the game.

Jasprit Bumrah Changes the Game

Mumbai needed something special to get out of the generational assault from Sundar and Sudharsan. Sundar, who nearly raced to his fifty (48 off 24), looked in a menacing mood in the middle overs of the match.

It took a special Bumrah yorker from a wide angle (over the wicket), to split Washington into two and shatter his stumps, changing the momentum of the game.

Washington's wicket in the 14th over had a ripple effect on the GT batting line-up, and forced Sudharsan to take more risks. The additional risk factor forced Sudharsan to sit on his knee and lap Richard Gleeson in the 16th over, resulting in him getting bowled out against the run of play.

Bumrah finished with a spell of 4-0-27-1, at an economy of 6.81, in a match where over 400 runs were scored.

that again if you want to.

And that is perhaps why the Purple Cap award doesn't quite do justice to Jasprit Bumrah, widely regarded as the best across formats for several years, yet never a recipient of the Purple Cap honour in a single IPL season.

The fact that Bumrah's genius defies measurement by any accolades in the IPL is, in equal parts, the greatest oversight and the highest compliment to his craft.

Rohit Sharma Lights Up in Eliminator

If there was one word to describe Mumbai Indians' batting performance in the IPL Eliminator, it could be luck. The resurgent team rode on luck from the start of their innings, sneaking in runs where they should not have.

Opener Rohit Sharma lit up in the match after being dropped twice in the powerplay, first when he was batting at 3, and second at 12. Rohit's innings was a patient one, where he saw off the first few overs, letting Jonny Bairstow take charge of the powerplay.

Bairstow, who flew out of England midway through the County Cricket season, raced to a rapid 47 runs off just 22 starts, making sure that MI did not miss Ryan Rickelton in the top order. It took a sensational relay catch from Sai Sudharsan and Gerald Coetzee to dismiss Bairstow in the 8th over of the game. It was quite funny that Gujarat, who had dropped two simple chances by then,

After Bairstow's dismissal, Rohit took charge of the spinners, hitting R Sai Kishore for back-to-back boundaries in the final over of the powerplay. From there, the T20 World Cup-winning captain put the foot on the gas, racing to a 28-ball fifty.

Rohit did not stop there, and completed a classy innings of 81 off 50 balls before falling to an off-cutter from Prasidh Krishna. But by the time he got out (16.4 overs), Rohit had given MI a solid base to cross a 220-run total.

MI cashed in on the base set by Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav (33 off 20). Tilak Varma (25 off 11) and Hardik Pandya (22* off 9) sailed Mumbai to a massive total of 228 runs, the second-highest in the history of playoffs in the Indian Premier League.

Bizarre Kusal Mendis Costs Gujarat

Kusal Mendis had an Indian Premier League debut to forget. Playing his first-ever match in the tournament, Mendis not only dropped crucial catches but also got out to a bizarre dismissal at the Mullanpur Stadium. Mendis' horror show against Mumbai meant that Gujarat were pegged back in both halves of the match, in the absence of their regular wicketkeeper-batter Jos Buttler.

First, Kusal dropped two regulation catches of Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, and then fell to a bizarre dismissal while chasing 229 runs. Kusal's mistakes in Gujarat's fielding innings handed Rohit Sharma a get-out-of-jail card. The opener took it with both hands and slammed a sensational knock of 81 runs in just 50 balls.

Suryakumar, on the other hand, scored 33 off 20, giving Rohit good support in the middle overs.

Gujarat fans were already angry at Kusal for dropping two catches, but it turned into rage when the batter stepped onto the stumps in the 7th over of the match. Batting against Mitchell Santner, Kusal went for the sweep, but backed up too much, ending up dislodging the stumps with his back foot.

With the loss, Gujarat's season comes to an end. For them, there are several positives this season. For the first time, the fans got a proper glimpse at Shubman Gill - the captain. Cut out the last season as transition, this is the one where Shubman Gill matured the most. Under the watchful eyes of Ashish Nehra, Gujarat have helped two of India's lost fast bowlers rediscover their touch.

Yes, they need to work on their overall balance, but they will be happy that they would not need to chop and change too much to turn this into a title-winning season.