Updated March 29th 2025, 22:47 IST
Satyanarayana Raju, one of Mumbai's newest recruits who secured a spot in the team's Playing XI, has pulled off one of the most bizarre deliveries in the history of the Indian Premier League. Raju secured a spot over Vignesh Puthur, who picked up three wickets in the team's previous encounter. Jos Buttler, who was on the receiving end of the delivery during the GT vs MI encounter was left surprised but he pulled off a strong shot to score a boundary in the game.
The moment happened during the second ball of the 12th over, which saw Satyanarayana Raju try to bowl a back-of-the-hand variation, but it did not pan out that way. The Mumbai Indians' fresh recruit delivered tossed a slower bumper-like delivery, and Gujarat Titans' Jos Buttler, who was on strike, had to wait for a while. When the ball came close, Buttler pulled it through the deep mid-wicket and deep backward square and it raced across the boundary line. Buttler had enough time to make the big shot happen. It could've been the slowest ball of the tournament so far.
Satyanarayana Raju could only look at the shot fly past the boundary line and was in shock. Buttler, on the other hand, had a huge grin as he moved towards B Sai Sudharsan in the middle, who was at the non-striker's end at that time.
Gujarat Titans pulled off a decent start, with skipper Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan scoring nicely in the power play. The GT skipper showed signs of aggression in the game with his shots, while Sai Sudharsan also contributed well as he scored a half-century. Gill lost his wicket to Pandya after scoring a 27-ball 38, while Sudharsan pulled off big shots against Mumbai Indians and scored 63 runs.
Hardik Pandya has been beneficial for the side as he picked up two dismissals. Mujeeb Ur Rahman took out the team's prime threat, Jos Buttler, with Ryan Rickleton making the catch with ease. He was at 39 and was scoring decently. Trent Boult made the fourth dismissal by taking out the high-flying Sudharsan. Deepak Chahar and Satyanarayana Raju also scalped a wicket each to restrict GT to 196 at the loss of eight wickets.
Published March 29th 2025, 22:47 IST