Sams’ final-over swank helps MI pull off thriller against Gujarat

Mumbai, May 6: Daniel Sams was brilliant, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma said after the Australian pacer pulled off a last over thriller for his team against the formidable Gujarat Titans in the 51st IPL match at Brabourne Stadium here on Friday. Needing nine runs off the last over, Sams conceded just three runs, restricting GT at 172 for five, thus helping MI to clinch the humdinger by five runs. “It was a great effort from the bowling unit. We didn’t want to look too far ahead. Even today, we didn’t play our best cricket, a lot of credit to the bowlers at the back-end. It’s important to get back the skills you have. Sams was under the pump in a couple of games but I know the quality he has. It’s important to back those guys. We are trying to maintain the same squad as much as possible. Daniel Sams was brilliant,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony. Rohit said it was pretty tight towards the back end, but the team will take the win with both hands. “It was pretty tight towards the back end. Very satisfying, something we were looking for all this while. Luck has to turn at some stage, we’ll take that win with both hands. Credit to everyone,” he said. The team was 15-20 runs short, despite having a great start, Rohit said. The team got stuck in the middle as GT bowled well in that period, but Tim David finished things really well, he added. David had cracked a useful unbeaten 44 runs that helped MI post a challenging 177 for six. “We knew it would be tough, but we held our nerves and that was good to see. A lot depends on how the game is going, who’s bowling well on the day. Luckily, I had few resources so I could change-up. They bowled slower balls and it was difficult to hit. We wanted to do the same,” Rohit said. Meanwhile, Sams said it was nothing to lose for him to bowl the last over where GT required 9 runs and bet on his best balls, bowling slow just near the trump line, which paid off. “9 off 6 is one of those ones … I just kind of look at it as I have nothing to lose here, probably the odds are in the batter’s favour, so I thought I would stick to my best ball and lucky enough I was able to keep it inside the wide line,” he said. “Viewing it from the outside it will probably look like that (gutsy), but for me I was just trying to stick to my best ball, the slower ball is something I go to and happy it paid off,” he added. Sams said it was a crazy game and awesome to have crossed over the line. “It was one of those games which just kept going backwards and forwards. It was good viewing out in the field and I am sure it was good on TV,” he said. “We did not have a good start to the tournament, but after those 8 losses the team thought they had a mini-IPL and have nothing to lose,” he said. (UNI)