Published: Apr 16, 2016, 09:40 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 17, 2016, 12:35 AM (IST)
Mumbai Indians after winning their last match against Kolkata Knight Riders in style would have hoped to repeat an encore of their performance, which sadly was not to be as the top-middle order batsmen failed to get starts. It was only Tim Southee and Krunal Pandya who added much needed score in the final overs as MI reached 143 for 8 in their full quota of 20 overs. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Parthiv Patel came out to open the innings, got off the wrong foot as Rohit departed for 7 runs. Dhaval Kulkarni drew first blood with Rohit holding out to square-leg fielder. Hardik Pandya who was again sent out at No.3 was unable to showcase his talent getting out to Kulkarni for just 2 runs. Jos Buttler came into rescue their innings but was lucky to be dropped by Brendon McCullum in slips. His stay was short-lived as he was beautifully stumped by Shadab Jakati for 16 runs. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Lions, Match 9, IPL 2016
Parthiv in the meanwhile continued his resilient innings, saw another team mate fall, this time it was Kieron Pollard, who made just a single run wsa caught by Dwayne ‘Bravo’ Champion at long-off handing Pravin Tambe his first wicket. Tambe was quick to pick up his second this time nabbing Parthiv for a 29-ball 34. Ambati Raydu was another lone-ranger for MI making second best score of 20. Next to fall was Harbhajan Singh, who was picked by Bravo. Singh added just 8 runs to the total, was out trying to be cute giving keeper Dinesh Karthik. Raydu was next to go handing James Faulkner his first wicket.
It was only Krunal Pandya and Tim Southee who hit some hefty blows in the final over giving MI bowling some respite. Krunal made 17 runs from with Southee making 25 runs from 11 balls. Southee was run-out by Bravo, just after getting hit for a huge six in the previous ball. Earlier, GL captain Suresh Raina won the toss and elected to bowl first, having made only one change to the team, with MI also making one change. Raina brought in Dhaval Kulkarni for Ravindra Jadeja, while MI brought in Krunal for Jagadeesha Suchith.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indians: 143 for 8 (Parthiv Patel 34; Tim Southee 25; Pravin Tambe 2 for 19 ) vs Gujarat Lions.
(Vishal Mehra is a reporter at CricketCountry, who enjoys his weekly dose of anime, and plays cricket once a white moon. His twitter handle is @vishal_oxyjinn.)
