3 player battles to watch out for in GT vs MI, Eliminator of IPL 2025 ft. Suryakumar Yadav

The Gujarat Titans (GT) and the Mumbai Indians (MI) will face off in the all-important Eliminator of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 in their hunt to seal a spot in Qualifier 2. The fixture will be hosted by the New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh on Friday, May 30.

While the winner of this game will have to play another game (Qualifier 2) in their quest to reach the final, the losing side will be eliminated from the tournament. On May 29, the Punjab Kings lost Qualifier 1 to the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), who made it straight to the final. PBKS will have a chance to redeem themselves in Qualifier 2, where they'll face the winner of the Eliminator.

While MI and GT gear up for a fate-deciding encounter, we look at the three player battles that could define tonight's game.

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#3 Shubman Gill vs Jasprit Bumrah

Both Shubman Gill and Jasprit Bumrah are big-match players and will have huge responsibilities on their shoulders to do well for their sides. While Bumrah will be asked to lead MI's bowling attack, Gill, with his exploits in the top order, will be expected to put up the big runs early on for GT.

Bumrah’s challenge will be to dismiss Gill early in the powerplay and provide his side with the crucial breakthrough, like he has done twice previously. In the eight innings where the duo have faced off, Gill has scored 34 runs off 38 deliveries, with Bumrah sending the GT skipper back to the hut twice.

This match-off might as well decide the fate of the game.

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#2 Mohammed Siraj vs Jonny Bairstow

Jonny Bairstow is likely to play his first IPL 2025 game for MI, having entered the squad as a replacement for one of the three players who marked their unavailability for the playoffs owing to national duty. With Will Jacks and Ryan Rickelton leaving the MI camp after the league stage, Bairstow might open the innings alongside Rohit Sharma tonight.

He’ll be up against GT’s new-ball bowler Mohammed Siraj, against whom the English wicketkeeper-batter has tremendous statistics in T20s. With Siraj struggling to find his form, Bairstow will look to go big against the pacer. In 30 deliveries from their four previous meetups, the Englishman has scored 60 runs at a brilliant strike rate of 200, and has fallen prey just once.

Hence, this will be a mouth-watering battle.

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#1 Sai Kishore vs Rohit Sharma

GT spinner Sai Kishore has proven to be a crucial wicket-taker in the middle overs and has provided his side with breakthroughs whenever needed. Given the conditions at the New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh, Gill might introduce Kishore early on to pressurize the opposition.

With GT’s spin sensation Rashid Khan having a dismal season, Sai Kishore will have the onus to catch the big fish, and his target shall include Rohit Sharma. Given the intensity of the encounter and Rohit’s ability to go big in key matches, the former MI skipper will look to get to business from the word go.

Sai Kishore managed to dismiss Rohit in the only innings where he bowled to the latter, and will be hopeful of repeating the same when they face off in the high-octane Eliminator.