IPL 2017 | Pollard and Rana make it four wins in a row for Mumbai

04/16/2017

Nitish Rana and Kieron Pollard were the stars for Mumbai Indians as they chased down Gujarat Lions’ target of 177 with 3 balls to spare. Earlier, a late Dinesh Karthik 48 run blitz off just 26 balls had taken the visitors to a competitive score after some good early bowling by Mumbai.

Brief scores: Gujarat Lions 176/4 (Brendon McCullum 64, Dinesh Karthik 48*; Mitchell McClenaghan 2/12, Harbhajan Singh 1/22) lost to Mumbai Indians 177/4 (Nitesh Rana 53, Rohit Sharma 40, Kieron Pollard 38; Andrew Tye 2/34) by 6 wickets and 3 balls to spare.

Rohit Sharma, winning the toss, opted to take the field first and confirmed the return of Lasith Malinga in place of Tim Southee. Suresh Raina also made two changes to his team that has won two games in a row with Jason Roy and Munaf Patel coming in for Aaron Finch and Shadab Jakati. The Gujarat captain confirmed that the former had been ruled out because the Aussie lost his kitbag on the way to the game.

McCullum and Raina stabilize Gujarat innings after Smith wicket

Sharma decided to start with a pacer for a change, after starting with Harbhajan Singh in his last two games, and was rewarded instantly as Mitchell McClenaghan picked up the wicket of Dwayne Smith on the second ball of the innings. After the wicket, Gujarat started their recovery by playing a patient game, getting an odd boundary here and there to reach 31 runs in the first five overs. Sensing the lack of runs on the board, Brendon McCullum decided to attack Lasith Malinga, hitting the Sri Lankan pacer for two sixes in the 6th over. Raina soon joined the action getting a boundary an over to take the score to 75 at the midway point.

Dinesh Karthik provides the fireworks

It was eventually the Turbonator, bowling his last over, who got Mumbai the breakthrough they so desperately craved. Raina danced down the track to attack the Indian spinner, but the experienced offie placed the ball wide outside the off stump resulting in the Gujarat captain slashing the ball straight to Sharma at point. McCullum tried to pick up the pace with a six and four of the bowling of Bumrah and Malinga but the latter exacted his revenge by striking the timber to restrict Gujarat to 105/3 with six overs to play. Dinesh Karthik joined the action and made his intent clear right from the off as he pulled Hardik Pandya for six to add 15 runs in the 15th over. Karthik eventually scored a 26-ball 48, supported by Jason Roy, 14 off 7, to take Gujarat to 176 off their allotted 20 overs.

Promoted Rana shines again

Gujarat started off just like Mumbai by getting a wicket off the second ball of the innings with Parthiv Patel edging a Praveen Kumar delivery to point. Mumbai decided to promote Nitish Rana up the order to reward him for his performances in the tournament thus far. The 23-year-old started off with a boundary of basil Thampi but edged the ball straight to Roy at square leg on the very next delivery. The Englishman, however, dropped the sitter and it cost his team dearly. Rana went on to score a fifty and take the lead in the Orange cap race before he was finally dismissed for 53 off 36 balls. By then, the Delhi boy had already taken Mumbai Indians to 89 off 10 overs.

The Pollard show, again

Buoyed by Rana’s wicket, Gujarat started the second half of the innings with a renewed sense of belief as they picked up the wicket of Buttler as well. But it was the incoming Kieron Pollard, who proved to be main star of the Mumbai batting lineup. After rotating the strike with Sharma, Pollard decided to go after Munaf Patel who had returned to the IPL after a break of three years. The West Indian followed it up with a boundary and a six of compatriot Dwayne Smith to take Mumbai within touching distance of the Gujarat total. Needing just 36 off the last four overs, Pollard was in no mood to slow down as he smashed Andrew Tye for 13 runs in the very next over. Even though Pollard fell for a well made 39 off 23 balls, Sharma ensured Mumbai won their fourth match in a row with 3 balls to spare.