Sports

By Vivek Prabhakar Singh

Mumbai (Maharashtra)[India], May 6 (ANI): Debutants Gujarat Titans have been on a rampage winning eight out of 10 IPL matches and are on top of the points table.

The Hardik Pandya-led side will now take on Mumbai Indians here at the Brabourne Stadium on Friday.

Rohit Sharma led Mumbai are languishing at the bottom of the points table having lost eight out of nine matches. But despite Mumbai's poor run of form, Gujarat Titans are not taking them lightly.

"I would say that each and every one of those teams have the ability to beat any team on their day. Mumbai have a proud history if you think of the championships they have won. They are coming on the back of a win. They are a very competitive team. They have match winners and we will have to be at our best to give ourselves a chance of winning the game. You can't take any team lightly and, for Mumbai, you can take them lightly at your own peril," said Gujarat Titans' Director of Cricket Vikram Solanki told ANI in an exclusive interview.

Gujarat Titans are close to booking their play-offs berth but they are not looking that far ahead and taking one match at a time.

"We are minded to make an assessment of each game. We perhaps wanted the best of each game. We are actually looking at the next game. We have a challenge ahead of us as far as Mumbai are concerned. We look to that game and we don't look too far ahead. We must give a good account of ourselves. They are coming on the back of a win as well and any team at their best is sort of going to be a challenge in this sort of tournament. It is the very nature of the IPL. So, we must look at the next game and the game after that once we get past that. Yes we must try to finish as high as possible," Solanki said.

Gujarat Titans faced a rare defeat in their previous match against Punjab Kings and much to the surprise Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bat first and Punjab chased down a 144-run target in just 16 overs.

"I would not describe it as an experiment. All credit to Punjab to get going as far as our innings are concerned. We certainly could have done things differently, we could have done better in terms of setting that total. So, sort of acknowledge that and Punjab managed their run chase very well," said Vikram Solanki.

The five-time Mumbai team will play for pride against Gujarat Titans and Hardik Pandya will be leading his side against his previous franchise to inch closer to the play-off berth. (ANI)