Hayden Slams GT's "Terrible Performance" After 99-Run Drubbing by MI

Addressing the media during the post-match press conference, Hayden said, "As a batting coach, I expect our margins to be a lot smaller than 100 (99 runs). That is an unacceptable scorecard for our batting unit. When you look down at our batting lineup, we've got wonderful players who have to be in a better mindset and better position to take their opportunities, and that will be our expectation moving forward. We've got to be just a lot better than where we were today. That was a terrible performance."

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. GT leaked 73 runs in the last four overs, courtesy of Varma's brutal power-hitting. Prasidh Krishna (54/1) and Ashok Sharma (38/0) leaked runs at an economy rate of more than 12 runs per over.

Speaking about the bowling in the last four overs, he said, "When you look back at those last four overs, that was just a horror story. 73 off the last four is unacceptable for world-class players. And that bowling line-up has to reflect on that performance, because it's been a number of times in this tournament where key players like Prasidh have gone for big runs in their overs, and it was purely an executional thing."

Kagiso Rabada was one of the best performers for GT in the match, claiming three wickets while conceding 33 runs in his four overs. Hayden praised Rabada's performance and said, "Rabada had an outstanding day and, in fact, is having a very good tournament. I mean, his pace today is a nightmare for batting units. 150, consistently above 140, and hitting very good areas as a world-class player is exactly where we need him to be."

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.

Hayden also criticised the batting middle-order of GT and stressed that top-order batters need to play more balls. "The middle order was undoubtedly exposed today. When they're coming in within six overs (powerplay), you know that you're in deep trouble. The thing about the power players is that you can't win it from there, especially in a run chase, but you can definitely lose it, and we lost it in the power play," he concluded.

After this match, Shubman Gill's Gujarat Titans have slipped to sixth position with three wins and three losses in six games.

- ANI