IPL 2024: Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians Tips & Preview - Two Formidable Forces Collide In The Opening Week Of IPL

By Nikhil Kalro

22 Mar 2024

Nikhil Kalro 22 Mar 2024

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The Titans' top-order consistency and strong finish in death overs will be key.
Mumbai Indians boast the most explosive batting unit in the IPL.
The absence of key players Hardik Pandya (Titans) and Suryakumar Yadav (Mumbai Indians) could impact both teams.

GT's Rashid Khan celebrates the dismissal of MI's Tim David during their match in the IPL 2023 season. (Getty Images)

Mumbai Indians have a Surya-sized hole in the contest between two batting heavyweights this weekend.

Consistency In The Top Order Helps The Titans
Titans - Giants At The Start And Death
MI - The Most Explosive Batting Unit
The Surya-Sized Hole
IPL 2024: Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians - Tips and Predictions

Gujarat Titans will start the new Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign at home against Mumbai Indians on Sunday, March 24. The Narendra Modi Stadium will host this high-octane encounter, in which last season's runners-up will face the five-time IPL champions. The visitors will be led by Hardik Pandya, who was the captain of Gujarat Titans until last season.

Consistency In The Top Order Helps The Titans

Last year, the Titans' top three scored 1916 runs at an average of 42.6, the highest among all teams. Shubman Gill’s 890 runs were the second-most by a player in a season after Virat Kohli’s chart-topping 973 runs in 2016.

It also helped that there was stability at the top of the order, with the Titans using one opening pair - Gill and Wriddhiman Saha - for all 17 innings last year. Expect that to remain unaltered this time around.

Titans - Giants At The Start And Death

Gujarat Titans were miles ahead in the finishing last year. They averaged 11.69 runs in the death overs, second-best to Punjab Kings’ 11.88. With the ball, they conceded at just 9.45, the best for any team.

This finishing threat with the bat, brought about by David Miller and Rahul Tewatia, and their prowess at the end stages in the ball, courtesy of Rashid Khan and the wily Mohit Sharma, gives them a big advantage.

The one aspect they will be hampered in, though, is the absence of two key players from last year. Hardik Pandya, who is now with Mumbai Indians, and Mohammed Shami, who is out injured.

MI - The Most Explosive Batting Unit

Mumbai Indians hit the most fours (265) and sixes (140) last season. They hit a boundary every 4.6 deliveries on average, the best balls per boundary ratio for a team in any season in IPL history. This attacking mindset stemmed from Rohit Sharma at the top.

Rohit has been in great form and is no longer captain. This could help unleash his beast mode again, as he’s got plenty to prove in the aftermath of the captaincy decision. This could give MI’s batting a massive leg up.

The Surya-Sized Hole

Suryakumar Yadav will miss this match, landing a hefty blow to MI. Last year, he scored 450 runs in the middle phase at a strike rate of 183, the quickest among those with over 100 runs in this phase. He’s still recovering from a sports hernia, and MI will need someone to step up to do this role. This could be a massive hole to fill, which will come to GT’s advantage.

The other worrying aspect is MI’s spin department. Since 2020, they have averaged the second-lowest among all teams. This time around, they only have one genuine spinner, Piyush Chawla. This pales in comparison to GT’s gun attack.

IPL 2024: Gujarat Titans vs Mumbai Indians - Tips and Predictions

Surya’s absence in the middle phase where MI were the best scorers gives GT a considerable advantage to make them the favourites. MI’s lack of spin depth adds to their challenge.

Verdict

Gujarat Titans v Mumbai Indians

The hosts will miss Hardik, while the visitors will be without Surya. The tips are level until we see MI's spin bowling options. If the seamers falter in the opening overs, GT could get some serious runs on the board in the middle overs, exploiting MI's weak spin department. Playing at home will also tip the scales in favour of the hosts.