MI leave it till the end, win in the Super Over
Ravindra Jadeja effected a direct run out off the final delivery to deny Mumbai Indians the winning single and take Gujarat Lions into a Super Over in their IPL 2017 game here on Saturday.
In the Super Over, Mumbai Indians, batting first, scored 11/2 and won by five runs after Gujarat Lions in reply managed only 6/0 with Jasprit Bumrah tying down Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum.
For the second match in a row, Mumbai Indians choked under pressure and a match the former champions should have easily won ended up tied. Gujarat Lions scored 153 for nine and MI were 153 all out in 20 overs.
It looked like Mumbai Indians were on their way to an easy win but some late drama and unwanted stroke play saw them lose their way. Four run outs didn’t help their cause either.
Krunal Pandya (29), who looked like he had won the match for Mumbai after he hit a brilliant six off the first ball of the final over bowled by Irfan Pathan, couldn’t see them through and was the last man out, caught short by Jadeja’s hit while running for the winning run.
Parthiv Patel’s 44-ball 70 meant Mumbai Indians were give a great launchpad but they lost their way with Jos Buttler (9), Nitish Rana (19) and Rohit Sharma (5) departing one after another. Patel held fort at one end but was dismissed by James Faulkner to set the cat among the pigeons.
The dismissals of Kieron Pollard (15) and Hardik Pandya (4) only made things difficult for Mumbai Indians. Both departed while trying to hit young pacer Basil Thampi out of the park.
Saturday’s performance was a repeat of what MI did in the last match against Rising Pune Supergiant when they choked under pressure to lose by three runs at the Wankhede. Mumbai Indians bowlers maintained an immaculate length to stifle the Gujarat Lions’ batsmen. Mumbai have now kept their opponents to less than 180 in seven matches.