Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], April 20 : Gujarat Titans (GT) skipper Shubman Gill admitted that his side conceded too many runs in the middle overs and failed to execute plans effectively, following their 99-run defeat against Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 clash on Monday.
Speaking after the match, Gill admitted that Gujarat were unable to restrict MI to a competitive total despite identifying the nature of the pitch.
"Honestly, I think we gave away too many runs in the middle overs. On a wicket like that, I think 160-170 was a par score. But I think there are a lot of learnings for us from this game," Gill said.
The GT skipper said that defeat serves as a learning curve for the team, even as they prepare for upcoming away fixtures in the tournament.
The 99-run defeat also marked GT's biggest margin of loss in the IPL, surpassing their previous worst results--an 83-run defeat against Chennai Super Kings in 2025 and a 63-run loss to CSK in 2024, as per CricViz data.
"I mean, a small hiccup, but now we've got a couple of games on the road, so hopefully we will come back on the winning side again," he added.
Gill also pointed to inconsistent execution by the bowlers, particularly in the middle overs, where Gujarat struggled to maintain pressure on the opposition batters.
"I think the wicket was a little bit on the slower side. I don't think we hit the right areas. The length ball wasn't coming on as well, some balls were coming, some weren't, and some were keeping low. I think we could have hit that length in the middle overs a bit more consistently, which we were not able to," he said.
Asked if conditions changed during the second innings, Gill felt the pitch remained largely similar, if not slightly easier due to dew.
"I think it was pretty similar. If at all, it could have gotten a little bit better because I think there was a bit more dew when we were batting," he added.
MI delivered a dominant all-round performance to defeat Gujarat by 99 runs in IPL 2026. Batting first, MI posted 199/5, powered by a brilliant maiden IPL century from Tilak Varma, who scored an unbeaten 101 off 45 balls. Despite early wickets, MI recovered strongly in the death overs.
In reply, Gujarat never got going as they suffered a dramatic top-order collapse, losing Sai Sudharsan for a golden duck and slipping to 45/3 inside six overs.
The innings further crumbled as Ashwani Kumar (4/24), Mitchell Santner (2/16), and AM Ghazanfar (2/17) ran through the batting lineup, bundling Gujarat out for 100.
With this win, Mumbai moved up to seventh place on the IPL 2026 points table, having secured two wins against four defeats from six matches. The five-time champions now have four points, with a Net Run Rate of +0.067.
On the other hand, Gujarat slipped to sixth position with three wins and three losses from six games. They remain on six points, but their net run rate stands at -0.821.