IPL 2016: Finch powers Gujarat past Mumbai in last-ball thriller

IPL 2016: Finch powers Gujarat past Mumbai in last-ball thriller

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Image Courtesy: © IPL

In a nail-biting finish at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, Gujarat Lions defeated defending champions Mumbai Indians by three wickets in a last ball thriller on Saturday. After restricting the home side to 143/7, Finch scored a 54-ball 67 to take the team to their third consecutive win.

Brief Scores: MI 143/8 in 20/20 overs (Parthiv 34(29), Southee 25(11), Tambe 2/12, Kulkarni 2/19) lost to GL 147/7 in 20/20 overs (Finch 67*(54), Raina 27(22), McClenaghan 4/21) by three wickets

Chasing 144, Gujarat Lions openers Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum went after the bowling from the word go, taking Tim Southee to the cleaners in the opening over. After sending his fellow Kiwi over the midwicket boundary in the 11-run over, Brendon McCullum opted to take the same approach against Bumrah and jumped out in an attempt to hit the pacer out of the ground. The cut towards backward point went straight to Hardik Pandya, who took a low catch to send back the veteran.

Although, they lost McCullum early, Finch and skipper Suresh Raina made sure that the scoring rate was taken care of by scoring boundaries at regular intervals. Raina, in particular was looking like his old self, and lofted Hardik Pandya straight down the ground in the seventh over for his first six off the innings. However, Mitchell McClenaghan ended the left-hander’s innings two overs later, after Raina’s mistimed pull went straight up in the air to give Parthiv Patel an easy catch.

But, Finch, who scored 74 and 50 in the last two matches, was holding one end strong, even though Dinesh Karthik, who formed a 65-run partnership with Finch against Kings XI Punjab, departed in the 11th over after falling to debutant Krunal Pandya. Bumrah came in to the attack for a second time and sent back Dwayne Bravo with a short ball, to put Gujrat in further trouble. Although the replays showed that there was no nick, the West Indian walked back to the pavilion after the Umpire raised his finger.

The fall of two quick wickets, slowly pushed the required run rate for the Gujarat Lions up to the nine-run mark. Finch though, kept the Gujarat Lions dressing room calm and the Aussie smashed Harbhajan for a six over midwicket in the last ball off the 16th over to leave the team needing only 35 off last four overs.

Although Akshdeep Nath departed the next over, Finch stuck to his job and took the team to a comfortable position of needing just 13 off the last two overs. However, McClenaghan had other plans. The Kiwi pacer struck twice in the penultimate over removing Faulkner and Praveen Kumar to leave Gujarat needing 11 for a win in the last over. Finch took three runs in the first two balls, but Dhawal Kulkarni did the unthinkable and smashed Bumrah for a four off the third ball to leave the team four runs away from a win. Finch made sure that there were no more jitters in the dressing room, as he smashed Bumrah for a boundary off the last ball to take the team to a win.

Earlier, after defeating Kolkata Knight Riders away, Mumbai Indians returned to their home ground to welcome Gujarat Lions, who had won both their matches of the tournament. The home side made just one change to the side that played against Kolkata Knight Riders with all-rounder Krunal Pandya, who is also Hardik Pandya’s brother, replacing Jagadeesha Suchith. Gujarat Lions also made one change to their line-up with local lad Dhawal Kulkarni coming in for Ravindra Jadeja, who is getting married on Sunday. Suresh Raina won the toss and opted to bowl first after seeing Mumbai Indians struggle in the opening match against Rising Pune Supergiants.

The home side got off to the worst possible start losing influential skipper Rohit Sharma in the second over. Dhawal Kulkarni, who represents Mumbai in the domestic tournaments, removed the right-hander for seven, after Rohit flicked one straight to Shadab Jakati at square leg. Hardik Pandya came in at No.3 for the third match in a row and flopped like the first two times, this time, pulling one straight to square leg off Kulkarni to give Jakati his second catch of the day.

The procession to the pavilion continued for the home side as Jos Buttler also departed in the ninth over, after Jakati fired one down the leg side to catch the Englishman out of the crease. Kieron Pollard fell a few balls later, after attempting to hit Praveen Tambe out of the ground, only to give Dwayne Bravo a catch near the long-off boundary. With all the wickets falling at the other end, Parthiv Patel kept the scoreboard ticking with singles, twos, and occasional boundaries, but his attempt to up the ante in the 13th over saw him holding out at deep midwicket off Tambe for 34 off 29 balls.

Harbhajan Singh, who scored 45 off 30 balls in the game against Rising Pune Supergiants, came in and tried his best to once again produced a memorable innings, but failed this time around after edging one from Bravo to Karthik behind the stumps. Wickets kept falling for the home side, but some lusty blows from Tim Southee and Krunal Pandya in the final overs helped Mumbai Indians post 143/8 on the board.  

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