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

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

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.

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.

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.