Mumbai Indians needed 38 off 22 when Gujarat Titans spinner Rashid Khan was midway through his fourth and final over. Tilak Varma, the MI batter, flicked the third delivery of the over towards the midwicket region and turned down the chance to take an easy single with Tim David heading back after nearly halfway down the track.
‘Wow didn’t take a run!’ observed Sunil Gavaskar who was on air during the over.
What may have led to Tilak’s refusal is the fact that Tim has struggled against Rashid in the past and the former backed himself to get a boundary to make up for the dot ball.
As it turned out, Tilak did go for a cheeky shot afterwards, attempting a reverse hit but he failed to execute the shot and again, as the ball rolled towards the fielder at short fine leg, refused another run.
MI ended up falling seven runs short of the 169-run target set by GT.
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After the match. Gavaskar asked MI captain Hardik Pandya if there was any plan behind Tilak’s call to deny the single.
“Hardik, there was one over by Rashid Khan, the last over where Tilak Varma did not take a single. Is there any thinking behind that?,” Gavaskar said on JioCinema.
Pandya threw his weight behind the youngster in his response.
“Not really, I think Tilak felt that was a better idea at that point of time. I completely back him, it is not an issue. Thirteen games to go,” Pandya said.
After opting to bat first, GT posted a decent 168/6 in their 20 overs with Sai Sudharsan hitting 39-ball 45 as Jasprit Bumrah put on a masterclass with bowling figures of 3/14 from four overs.
MI lost Ishan Kishan for a duck in the first over of their chase and had lost two wickets by the third over before Rohit Sharma and Dewald Brevis repaired the early damage with a 77-run partnership. However, the five-time champions slipped in the slog overs to finish at 162/9.
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