Published: Apr 17, 2016, 01:11 AM (IST)
Edited: Apr 17, 2016, 02:25 AM (IST)
Gujarat Lions encountered the pumped Mumbai Indians in their own den and emerged victorious in the nail-biting game of the Indian Premier League at Mumbai on Sunday. The game was an anxious one as the momentum kept swinging like a pendulum of a clock. Aaron Finch scripted history with his third back to back fifty in the tournament and carried his team over the line with determination. IPL 2016, Match 9, Pick of the tweets: Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Lions at Mumbai
Winning the toss, Gujarat Lions opted to bowl first on a wicket which looked conducive for batting. Gujarat Lions bowlers did a commendable job in chipping early wickets and put the pressure on the hosts right from the outset. MI kept on losing wickets at regular intervals but a crucial partnership between Krunal Pandya and Tim Southee helped them in posting a respectable total. Parthiv Patel was the leading run-scorer for MI as he played a decent knock of 34 but failed to convert the good start into a big innings. IPL 2016, Match 8: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets at Hyderabad, Stars and Flops
Southee was a sensation to watch lower down the order as he smashed some big sixes and played a much needed cameo for his side. Krunal too contributed with some valuable runs and gave their bowlers a battling chance. Defending 144, was never an easy task against the star-studded batting line up of Gujarat Lions but MI bowlers bowled with immense confidence and almost won the game. IPL 2016, Match 8, Pick of the tweets: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders at Hyderabad
Gujarat Lions got off to a shaky start as Brendon McCullum was dismissed early on in the innings but finch stuck to his guns and came out hard to play match winning knock and see his side emerging victorious. Suresh Raina got a got off to a decent start but floundered to a short pitched delivery from Mitchell McClenaghan.
Dinesh Karthik looked good but threw his wicket away in an attempt to earn a boundary. At a point, GL were in trouble as the required run-rate was on a rise and they were losing wickets aplenty. But finch ensured the scoreboard kept ticking and was single-handedly taking on the game away from MI’s reach. Dwayne Bravo would consider himself unlucky as he got out cheaply and further putting his side into big trouble.
The 19th over of the game saw few dramatic moments as couple of wickets fell and there were some priceless dot balls which turned the game upside down. GL needed 11 runs from the final over which they successfully achieved off a boundary on the very last ball by Finch.In between, Dhawal Kulkarni broke the shackles with a boundary when GL needed 8 off 4 deliveries. The game which once looked in GL’s favour took many twists and turns and kept everyone intrigued till the very last moment.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indians 143 for 8 in 20 overs [Parthiv Patel 34(29), Tim Southee 25(11); Dhawal Kulkarni 4-1-19-2, Pravin Tambe 2-0-12-2] lost to Gujarat Lions 144 for 7 in 20 overs [Aaron Finch 67(54), Suresh Raina 27(22); Mitchell McClenaghan 4-0-21-4] by three wickets.
(Suraj Choudhari, an avid cricket follower who plays the sport at club level, is a staffer with Criclife)
