Mumbai Indians pulled off a heist on Friday night.
It edged out Gujarat Titans by five runs at the Wankhede Stadium, much to the delight of its loyal fans, who have had very little to cheer about this IPL season. When openers Wriddhiman Saha (55, 40b, 6×4, 2×6) and Shubman Gill (52, 36b, 6×4, 2×6) put on 106 in 12 overs, Titans seemed well on track to chase down Mumbai’s 177 for six and to post ts ninth victory in 11 matches.
Though they were both sent back in the very next over by M. Ashwin, the odds were still with Titans, given the hard-hitting batters in the line-up. When skipper Hardik Pandya (24, 14b) was run-out in the 18th over, the equation came down to 20 off the last two overs.
HIGHLIGHTS
Jasprit Bumrah’s penultimate over was spoiled by David Miller’s six over mid-wicket. That left Titans needing nine from the final over.
And what a last over it proved to be from Daniel Sams. He gave away just three in it. After the danger man Rahul Tiwatia was run out, Titans needed six off the last two balls and Miller was on strike, but the Australian left-arm seamer bowled wide enough to deny him.
Mumbai, after losing its first eight games, thus posted its second straight win. It was only the third defeat for the Titans.
Earlier, Mumbai did well to recover from a top-order collapse to post a total that would keep it in the game. From 74 for no wicket in 7.3 overs it had slumped to 119 for four before Tim David’s 21-ball 44 (2×4, 4×6) lent respectability to the total.
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Before the collapse, there was some lovely strokeplay, especially by Rohit Sharma (43, 28b, 5×4, 2×6). In the second over of the innings, he hit Alzarri Joseph over extra cover for a four and flicked him above mid-wicket for a six.
The Rohit show was underway, but Rashid Khan ended it, trapping him lbw. The leg-spinner’s appeal was rejected by the umpire, but he wasted no time to review it. The Mumbai captain’s attempt to reverse sweep proved fatal.
His opening partner Ishan Kishan (45, 29b, 5X4, 1×6) took over from Rohit, as he switched gears. But he saw Suryakumar Yadav ballooning a catch to Rashid at mid-wicket off Pradeep Sangwan.
Kishan too fell in the following over to a catch at mid-wicket by Rashid off a slower ball from Joseph.