Mumbai, Gujarat in a wet spot

Five-time champions Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans were in a spot of bother at the Wankhede last night as unseasonal showers halted play at a time when the match was interestingly poised.

After putting the hosts in and restricting them to just 155-8, Shubman Gill’s GT also struggled to get to their target before two heavy downpours halted play for long periods.

GT were 132-6 after 18 overs, needing another 24 runs for victory in 12 balls when rains wreaked havoc at the Wankhede. 

Gill (43 off 46, 3×4, 1×6) and No. 3 batter Jos Buttler (30 off 27,  3×4, 1×6) did the bulk of the scoring for the visitors. 

Gill misses half-ton

MI pace ace Jasprit Bumrah had Gill eventually clean bowled, and that affected the run chase as the GT batting line-up began to crumble thereafter. 

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Earlier, despite MI batters Will Jacks (53 off 35 balls, 5×4, 3×6) and Suryakumar Yadav’s (24-ball 35, 5×4) 71-run third-wicket stand off just 43 balls, the hosts barely managed to go past 150 in their allotted 20 overs. MI failed to capitalise on GT’s poor fielding too as Jacks, Suryakumar and No. 8 Corbin Bosch (27) were the only batters, who got into double digits.  

GT pacer Mohammad Siraj (1-29) dealt MI an early blow, sending back opener Ryan Rickelton (2) caught at short extra cover fielder Sai Sudharsan off the very second ball of the match. Three overs later, left-arm pacer Arshad Khan (1-18) dismissed MI’s man-in-form Rohit Sharma for just seven.

Suryakumar began well, hitting two back-to-back well-timed straight drives for boundaries as he welcomed pacer Prasidh Krishna (1-37), the current purple cap holder with 20 scalps in this edition so far. Though Suryakumar ended Krishna’s over with another four through the mid-on region, he was lucky to survive on 12 as Sai Kishore dropped him at mid-wicket. 

Jacks shines for MI

MI had their first 50 runs on the board when Jacks got a boundary off Arshad. Moments later, a poor fielding effort cost the visitors once more, as Siraj dropped Jacks at short mid-wicket when he was on 29 in the last over of the Powerplay.

Jacks got to his half-century off just 29 balls with a six off left-arm spinner Kishore (2-34). However, Kishore had the prized wicket of Suryakumar in the same over, when the India T20I skipper failed to clear long-off fielder Shahrukh Khan. In the very next over, GT leg-spinner Rashid Khan (1-21) had Jacks caught by Sai Sudharsan near the deep square leg fence.   

This article first appeared on Mid Day