After nine years, a Mumbai Indians batsman scored a century in IPL and this century brought a resounding victory for Mumbai. Suryakumar Yadav (103) scored his maiden IPL century as Mumbai Indians beat table-toppers Gujarat Titans by 27 runs at the Wankhede Stadium. Apart from Suryakumar's century, Mumbai registered this big win over Gujarat on the basis of Akash Madhwal's bowling. Even the blistering innings of Rashid Khan (79 not out) could not avoid this defeat.
Mumbai Indians, who successfully chased down the target of 200 consecutive runs in the last few matches at the Wankhede Stadium, once again crossed the 200 mark. Just this time the team itself batted first and scored 218 runs. Seeing the rain of runs in Wankhede, Gujarat was also expected to hit hard, but Mumbai bowlers destroyed Gujarat's top order.
Image Credit: BCCI
The wonder of Mumbai's bowling
Jasprit Bumrah may not be there, and Joffra Archer may have returned without much contribution, but Mumbai made up for his absence with young bowler Akash Madhwal and experienced Australian pacer Jason Behrendorff. By the fourth over itself, both together, Wriddhiman Saha, Shubman Gill, and Captain Hardik Pandya returned to the pavilion.
Vijay Shankar scored some quick runs, but Piyush Chawla bowled him on the very first ball. In the very next over, Abhinav Manohar was bowled by Kumar Kartikeya. Overall, 5 wickets fell for just 55 runs in 7.1 overs.
From here David Miller raised some hope for Gujarat and scored a quick 41 runs. But Akash Madhwal dismissed him in the 12th over and Gujarat's hopes were shattered. By the 14th over, Gujarat's score was 8 wickets for 103 runs. The defeat was certain. Despite this, Rashid Khan did not give up. The veteran Afghan all-rounder from Gujarat played a stunning innings and scored his first half-century in just 21 balls and reduced the margin of defeat by hitting 79 runs in just 32 balls with the help of 10 sixes, and 3 fours.
Image Credit: India Today
Rohit Ishan's fast start
So far this season, Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma, who has been failing continuously, had the most eyes. Once again he could not play a big innings but the kind of start he got together with Ishan Kishan laid the foundation for Mumbai's big score. Both scored 61 runs in the powerplay. In the seventh over, Rashid made both his victims. Rashid (4/29) also dismissed Nehal Wadhera in the next over.
The biggest feature of this Mumbai innings was the intentions of the batsmen. Whoever came, tried to score fast runs. Even Vishnu Vinod, playing his first IPL match after 6 years, also played a strong inning and added 65 runs along with Suryakumar Yadav.
But this entire inning was in the name of Surya. Surya, who came to the crease after Rohit's dismissal in the seventh over, did a blistering batting. He scored his fifth half-century of this season in just 32 balls. Then in the last three overs, Surya's explosive form was seen. He first took the team beyond 200 runs and then completed his first IPL century with a six off the last ball of the 20th over.
