Mumbai Indians picked up their first ever win against Gujarat Lions in IPL history as Rohit Sharma's side emerge victorious by six wickets at Wankdede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday. Nitish Rana, Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard contributed with the bat to help them win their fourth straight win in IPL 2017.
The match was decided in the final over of the innings as the Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit (40, 29b, 3x4, 1x6) finished the game with three balls to spare.
Mumbai Indians, requiring 177 runs to win, suffered a disastrous start with Parthiv Patel out in the second ball of their innings. With the home team losing such an early wicket, in-form Nitish Rana walked into the middle, and the left-hander continued his impressive form with the bat in the middle.
Along with Jos Buttler, the youngster formed a solid partnership and scored at a healthy rate in the first six overs. They compiled 56 runs in the first six overs with Rana (53, 36b, 4x4, 2x6) playing major role, attacking the GL bowlers.
Rana, who was dropped when he was on nine, looked in brilliant form as he completed yet another 50 in the IPL, but was soon dismissed by Andrew Tye.
Mumbai Indians had their noses on front as Rana had provided the base for the other middle order batsmen, but they looked in a spot of bother as Buttler (26, 24b, 1x4, 2x6) was also dismissed in the next few overs. It resulted in two new players at the middle – Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard (39, 23b,2x4, 3x6).
Even though Mumbai Indians's required rate was above ten runs per over, the home team looked comfortable with Rohit and Pollard looking in good touch. After spending some time in the middle, the two batsmen hit the GL bowlers all around the park, and brought the required run rate down to around seven runs only with three overs remaining.
Things became a little interesting with Basil bowling a good 18th over, and Pollard also fell in the first ball of 19th over. With the home team requiring eight runs from the final over of the match, Rohit reached the traget with three balls to spare.
Earlier, Gujarat Lions had not started well, with Dwayne Smith going for a duck in the first over. In fact, the pitch being on the slower side, even in-form Brendon McCullum struggled in the first few overs. The New Zealander was failing to time the ball, but McCullum started to connect the ball well.
After a few balls in the middle of the bat, McCullum hit some fours and sixes while Suresh Raina also formed a good partnership with the former NZ skipper. The right-hander also completed his half-century, and was looking dangerous for a good score.
Raina, on the other hand, lost his wicket as Harbhajan sent him back to the dugout for 27 runs. Still McCullum did not change his approach as he dealt in boundaries. However, McCullum (64, 44b, 6x4, 3x6) missed Malinga's straight ball, and was out for a good half century.
Dinesh Karthik (48, 26b, 2x4, 2x6) also tried to play his shots against the GL bowlers, and also ran well between the wickets alongside Ishan Kishan to push his team towards a good total. Besides his running, he was scoring his runs in boundaries too, and pressurising the MI bowlers.
The Gujarat Lions finished their innings well with some powerful shots from Jason Roy and Karthik in the final few overs to score 176 runs, which did not prove to be enough.
Scorecard
Gujarat Lions: 176/4 in 20 overs.
Mumbai Indians: 177/4 in 19.3 overs.
Result: Mumbai Indians win by six wickets
Bowling
Mumbai Indians: Mitchell McClenaghan 4-0-24-2; Lasith Malinga 4-0-51-1; Harbhajan Singh 4-0-22-1; Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-45-0; Krunal Pandya 3-0-18-0; Hardik Pandya 1-0-15-0.
Gujarat Lions: Praveen Kumar 2.3-0-25-0; Basil Thampy 4-0-34-0; Munaf Patel 4-0-35-0; Andrew Tye 4-0-34-2; Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-34-0; Dwayne Smith 1-0-12-0;
Fall of wickets
Gujarat Lions: 1-1, Smith (0.2 ov), 2-81, Raina (11.1 ov), 3-99, McCullum (13.4 ov), 4-153, Ishan Kishan (17.4 ov)
Mumbai Indians: 1-0, Patel (0.2 ov), 2-85, Rana (9.2 ov), 3-92, Buttler (11.1 ov), 4-160, Pollard (18.1 overs)
