Highlights, IPL 2017, MI vs GL, cricket scores and results: Mumbai win by 6 wickets for 4th straight win

Nitish Rana is adjudged the Man of the Match for his 36-ball 53.

MI Indians doing it comfortably. Pollard’s strength again proving crucial at the end. Sanjay Manjrekar may have pulled off the greatest reverse jinx in commentary history with his comments on Pollard. Rohit Sharma would have enjoyed some time in the middle. His form was the only worry for MI and they now look even more dangerous with their captain getting back his touch. This team is full of match winners now and is high on confidence. They will take some beating if they continue like this. GL will have to contend with the bowlers they have but they can lift themselves up if they field better. Unfortunately, Raina has a few too many men to hide in the field and that brings down the whole unit despite the presence of some brilliant fielders in their team.

Most matches won in T20 cricket:

95 – MUMBAI INDIANS*

94 – Chennai Super Kings 

90 – Lancashire

Mumbai Indians 177/4 after 19.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 40, Hardik Pandya 6) 

Praveen bowls the last over. The first ball is full on the leg side and Rohit paddles it to the boundary. The great start for MI. Two runs off the next ball. Rohit and Hardik take on Jadeja’s throw. A direct hit. This would be touch and go. The umpires go upstairs, but Hardik is just in. Good cricket by the three Team India players. A yorker outside off and Rohit squeezes it to cover and take two. That brings up the victory for Mumbai – their fourth of the tournament on the trot. Mumbai win by 6 wickets with three balls to spare.

Most wickets from career’s first two matches in IPL:

8 – Adam Zampa
7 – Kevon Cooper, Amit Singh, Lakshmipathy Balaji, ANDREW TYE*
6 – Lasith Malinga

Mumbai Indians 169/4 after 19 overs (Rohit Sharma 32, Hardik Pandya 6) 

Tye to bowl the penultimate over. And what a wicket taker he is proving for GL. A short delivery. Pollard goes aerial, but gets the inside half of the bat and doesn’t get the distance. Caught by Jadeja at wide long on. Hardik Pandya is the new batsman and cuts the first ball backward of square on the off side for a boundary. He can hit a long ball an till he is there MI will be favourites. 8 runs needed off the last over.

Most runs added by MI pairs in IPL:

1130 – Rohit Sharma/Kieron Pollard*
1122 – Rohit Sharma/Ambati Rayudu 
985 – Ambati Rayudu/Kieron Pollard

OUT! Tye gives GL a crucial breakthrough as Pollard departs. MI 160/4

 Pollard c Jadeja b Andrew Tye 39(23)

Mumbai Indians 160/3 after 18 overs (Kieron Pollard 30, Rohit Sharma 30) 

Thampi comes back into the attack. A yorker to Pollard. Bit of a miscommunication among the MI batsmen. Pollard was nearly run our there. A single off every delivery. Mumbai almost there. Need 17 runs off the last two overs.

Mumbai Indians 154/3 after 17 overs (Kieron Pollard 36, Rohit Sharma 27) 

Tye returns to the attack. A big resposibility on him. Th equation is in MI’s favour now. Pollard hits one back and the ball hits Rohit. The MI captain goes down in pain. He has just been back from the lengthy layoff induced by injury. He can’t afford another injury now. Somehow gets his bat back inside the crease. He is okay though and is up after a while. And now decides to stay away from Pollard’s firing range and stand wide of the crease at the non striker’s end. Pollard smashes one straight for six and then gets a boundary at long on. Say what. That last shot may have hoit Rohit again. 23 needed off 18 balls .

GL seamers are bowling a lot of slower deliveries here, probably a few too many. It’s not a surprise anymore if you overuse them. Pollard and Rohit are both capable of lining them up if they pick it early. MI still favourites here with wickets in hand and a lot of firepower in the bank.

Mumbai Indians 141/3 after 16 overs (Kieron Pollard 25, Rohit Sharma 25) 

Jadeja comes back into the attack. Pollard drives hard. Jadeja for a moment may have wanted it try and stop that, but thinks better of it. A good decision in the end given the force with which it was hit. A good tumbling stop at the boundary. Rohit goes inside out on the next ball and sends his India teammate over the extra cover boundary. Some bragging rights ensured. MI need 36 runs off the last four overs with seven wickets in the kitty. They are the favourites now, as a strategic timeout is taken.

DID YOU KNOW?

Rohit Sharma becomes the first batsman to score 2,000 runs batting at No 4 in IPL.

Mumbai Indians 132/3 after 15 overs (Kieron Pollard 24, Rohit Sharma 17) 

Dwayne Smith in for the first time. West Indian to West Indian. Smith bowls to Pollard. Starts with a wide. Pollard goes big on the fourth ball and over the long on fence. SIX. The next delivery is a slower one, but Pollard picks it up early and pulls to the mid wicket boundary. The last ball of the over is slower again. Pollard misses. 45 runs neede off 30 balls.

Mumbai Indians 119/3 after 14 overs (Kieron Pollard 14, Rohit Sharma 16) 

Munaf continues. Rohit cuts hard and goes over backward point. No chance for any of the fielders. Four. A gentle short delivery then, bowled at 120 kmph and Pollard despatches it into the stands over wide long on. A delayed appeal for caught behind off the next ball. Not out.

Against the run of play, MI find themselves with two new men at the crease. Both Pollard and Rohit are looking to get in before going for the big shots. Basil Thampi bowled a superb over where he tried to execute six yorkers. More fast bowlers should try that strategy. Think six yorkers at the start of the over and try to execute them. Can he find support at the other end though?

Mumbai Indians 106/3 after 13 overs (Kieron Pollard 3, Rohit Sharma 11) 

Thampi into the attack. Gets the yorker on target on more than one occasion, though one of the balls ends up being a full toss. Pollard fails to get the placement. Employs good change of pace as well. Only five runs from that over.

Mumbai Indians 101/3 after 12 overs (Kieron Pollard 3, Rohit Sharma 9) 

Munaf back into the attack. The first ball is a slower one and dragged short. Buttler mistimes and is caught long on. Kieron Pollard is the new man in. The last ball offers bit of a width and Rohit brings out the square cut and gets a boundary through backward point.

OUT! Buttler goes now, as he holes out in the deep off a Munaf slower ball. MI 92/3

Buttler c Brendon McCullum b Munaf Patel 26(24)

Mumbai Indians 92/2 after 11 overs (Jos Buttler 26, Rohit Sharma 3) 

Jadeja with the 11th over. Pulls things back nicely after conceding 15 runs in his previous over. Only three runs in that over. That is more like the Jadeja we know.

Mumbai Indians 89/2 after 10 overs (Jos Buttler 24, Rohit Sharma 2) 

Tye gets GL their second wicket. A knuckle ball and finally GL see the back of Rana. The southpaw gets a faint edge to wicketkeeper Karthik. He is now the Orange Cap holder. Crosses Gautam Gambhir. A brilliant fifty by him. At the halfway stage, Mumbai though are very much on course.

Tye with yet another wicket with the knuckle ball. He has been massive for Lions since he came into this team and that was the perfect time to get the wicket of Rana who was looking in superb touch once again. Mumbai still favourites here, but there is a lot of pressure on Rohit and Pollard to get them over the line and neither man has been in great touch.

OUT! Andrew Tye gives GL the second breakthrough as Rana gets a faint edge to the keeper.

Nitish Rana c Karthik b Andrew Tye 53(36)

Rohit Sharma is the new man in.

MI are on track in the chase here. None of the GL bowlers have had an impact and to make matters worse the fielding and catching has been ordinary, to say the least. GL as a don’t seem to enjoy staying in the field much. They are probably reverse counting the overs from twenty to one and hoping for the best. Rana has played some splendid shots in his half century. He doesn’t look rushed at the crease and waits for the right balls to play his shots. He is the find of this season for Mumbai.

Mumbai Indians 85/1 after 9 overs (Nitish Rana 53, Jos Buttler 23) 

Jadeja continues. Rana cuts and gets the ball in the gap past the right of backward point and to the boundary. Rana gets to his second fifty of the tournament. Just for the record Rana was dropped by Roy earlier in the innings. Would it come to hurt GL? Buttler then gets a stride forward and hits Jadeja into the stands at long on. Fifteen runs from that over.

Mumbai Indians 70/1 after 8 overs (Nitish Rana 45, Jos Buttler 16) 

Munaf in the attack now. He bowls to Rana. It is classic old vs young battle. And Rana getting the better of the first few exchanges. A cracking square cut sends the ball rocketing to the fence. Buttler tries to be cheeky o the last ball. Tries a reverse scoop, but ends up playing a no shot.

Mumbai Indians 63/1 after 7 overs (Nitish Rana 39, Jos Buttler 16) 

Ravindra Jadeja into the attack now. His addition is a huge boost to the GL bowling. Bowls stump to stump as usual. Some indecision in the running between the wickets. Buttler wanted a second run on the fifth ball. Rana sends Buttler back though. Some sloppy cricket at the end from GL conceding an overthrow.

Mumbai Indians 56/1 after 6 overs (Nitish Rana 34, Jos Buttler 14) 

Andrew Tye, the hat-trick hero from the next match is in the attack now. Rana pulls and pulls handsomely. Gets six over square leg. He is turning out to be one of the success stories of the IPL. Nine runs off that over. Strategic timeout taken at the end of that over.

A ten-ball over from hell from Praveen Kumar after getting Parthiv Patel early in his first. PK managed to keep his composure though (yes, PK and composure in the same sentence) to end the over strongly with three dot balls. The 120 kmph nostalgia theme continued at the other end with Munaf Patel looking as tidy as ever. PK and Munaf both have the look and pace of a 40-year-old fast bowling pensioner but they are still 30 and 33 respectively. Not every Indian bowler ages as gracefully as Ashish Nehra.

Mumbai Indians 47/1 after 5 overs (Nitish Rana 26, Jos Buttler 13) 

Thampi bowls the next over. He bowls to Buttler who moves across the stumps and scoops it for six. Rana gets another six in that over. An imperious drive over cover sends that wide delivery into the stands. Fifteen runs from that over.

Mumbai Indians 32/1 after 4 overs (Nitish Rana 18, Jos Buttler 6) 

Munaf comes into the attack. He is making an IPL appearance for the first time since 2013 and making an appearance against the team he last represented. Gets flicked by Buttler to the backward square leg fence. Seven runs conceded. Not a bad one coming back after a long hiatus.

This is little more than a par total for the Lions and they will need to bowl well to defend it. The wicket of Patel early will be a boost for them, but the real danger men are either at the crease or to come. The Mumbai batting order isn’t all that long so early wickets will be the key. Once again all eyes will be on Andrew Tye and his knuckle ball.

Mumbai Indians 25/1 after 3 overs (Nitish Rana 16, Jos Buttler 1) 

Praveen continues. Has got his line completely awry. Bowls a hat-trick of wides down the leg side. Add one more to that. Someone needs to talk to him. This can’t go on. Finally a legal delivery. A shortish delivery and Rana dabs it down to third man for a single. Eleven runs from that over.

Mumbai Indians 14/1 after 2 overs (Nitish Rana 11, Jos Buttler 1) 

Basil Thampi in the attack now. Rana almost hits one straight into the hands of mid on. The ball drops short. GL could have had another wicket in that over, Rana mistimes and the ball pops up in the air, but what a let off. A dolly dropped by Roy. Some butterfingers that. The first catch he took also produced bit of a fumble. What was Roy thinking? The bowler is distraught. Thampi is looking for his first IPL wicket.

Mumbai Indians 6/1 after 1 over (Nitish Rana 5, Jos Buttler 0) 

Disastrous start by Mumbai. Parthiv gets a leading edge and Roy takes an easy catch at backward point. A wicket of the second ball of the innings. Now both teams have lost a wicket in the first over. Nitish Rana comes in at the fall of that wicket. Praveen to Rana. Bowls down the leg side. Wide called. Rana advances on the next ball and picks up the ball and despatches it to the fine leg fence. Six runs and a wicket in that over.

OUT! Parthiv gets a leading edge and is caught at backward point. Mumbai 0/1 in the first over.

Parthiv Patel c Roy b P Kumar 0(2)

Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler to open for Mumbai. Praveen Kumar has the new ball for Gujarat. Chants of ‘Ganpati Bappa Morya’ is heard around the Wankhede.

Roy shows the crowd what he can do with a couple of lusty blows. Not that he needs any introduction at Wankhede, the last time he played here for England he scored 43 off 21 in his team’s successfully chase of 229. GL would think they have got enough for a pitch that looks two paced. The ball may come on to the bat a bit better under lights though and with MI’s batting depth and GL’s poor bowling form, MI would like to rate their chances.

Gujarat Lions 176/4 after 20 overs (Jason Roy 14, Dinesh Karthik 48)

Bumrah bowls the last over. Roy goes straight sending a low full toss from Bumrah to the boundary. That’s the flip side of trying to bowl Surely should have come earlier. Bumrah to Karthik and Karthik pulls out at the last moment. Bumrah isn’t happy, but Karthik politely clarifies that the soider cam came in his eyeline. That settles it. A juicy full toss off the last ball. But Karthik doesn’t take advantage. A good-looking score in the end. Shouldn’t be a walk in the park for Mumbai. A fine innings from Karthik and a handy little innings from Roy as well.

Most runs conceded by Lasith Malinga in an IPL match:

51 v GL, Mumbai, 2017*
45 v CSK, Delhi, 2013
43 v RR, Kolkata, 2013

The last six IPL matches at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai have been won by chasing teams.

Mumbai Indians while chasing at Wankhede Stadium in IPL:

Matches – 20
Won – 14
Lost – 6

McClenaghan finally ends Ishan’s misery, change of pace again doing the trick. DK is turning it on at the other end though. His running between the wickets has been as audacious as his big hitting. That dive to get into the crease while running a too was an unbelievable stretch. England opener and one of the top T20 batsmen in the world has only two over to make an impact now.

Gujarat Lions 166/4 after 19 overs (Jason Roy 8, Dinesh Karthik 44)

Malinga bowls the penultimate over. Bowls round about the yorker length with good changes of pace. Very difficult to get away. Roy is finding it very hard to get his timing in order. Gets one away at last. Sends a full delivery soaring over the long on fence. Pollard can only watch the ball sailing into the stands. Twelve runs from that over.

Gujarat Lions 154/4 after 18 overs (Jason Roy 0, Dinesh Karthik 41)

McClenaghan to Ishan. Single. Karthik pulls and gets a six over mid wicket. Audacious shot. Fifty run stand up between Karthik and Ishan. The fourth ball is short and Ishan mistimes the pulls. Krunal judges the catch to a nicety at dep square leg. Jason Roy is the new man in. One feels Roy is wasted so low down the order. Tries an adventurous reverse sweep off a near-yorker. Very lucky to be not bowled okr caught in front of the stumps. Nine runs from that over.

OUT! Ishan Kishan holes out in the deep. GL 153/4 in the 18th over.

Ishan Kishan c Krunal Pandya b McClenaghan 11(14)

Gujarat Lions 145/3 after 17 overs (Ishan Kishan 10, Dinesh Karthik 33)

Bumrah in the attack. The first ball is a full toss. Nearly a no ball. The next ball is a no ball. Tight call though. But as they say, the line belongs to the ump. Karthik picks up a boundary with a drive. Free hit, but no harm done for MI. Yorker by Bumrah and not much that the batsman could do with that. Ishan gets into the act then. Despatches a low full toss to the fence at square leg. The last ball is a low full toss again and it is on the pads of the batsman. Karthik helps himself to a boundary backward of square. 19 runs from that over. Exactly the impetus GL needed to push the score to 165-170.

Dinesh Karthik has looked busy in the middle but he needs to play a few more big hits if he wants to justify his promotion ahead of Jason Roy. That scoop against Pandya was brilliantly executed, it should earn him the bragging rights over McCullum on who plays the better scoop in GL dressing room. Ishan Kishan meanwhile is stuck at one end. He needs to hit out or get out to get Roy some time in the middle.

Gujarat Lions 126/3 after 16 overs (Ishan Kishan 5, Dinesh Karthik 20)

McClenaghan to Karthik. There is an appeal for run out against Karthik. The umpires go upstairs. The dive would have saved him there. Six runs from that over. And a strategic timeout taken.

Gujarat Lions 121/3 after 15 overs (Ishan Kishan 5, Dinesh Karthik 16)

Hardik Pandya introduced foir the first time. Induces a leading edge off Karthik. Misses the man at extra cover. Karthik improvises on the next ball. Moves outside off and scoops that back of a length delivery for six. Four overthrows conceded off the last ball. Poor work in the field by MI. Needless throw from Pollard and poor backing up by Harbhajan. The ball races to the fence. Add four to the single already taken on that ball, and you get six with even hitting the ball into the stands.

Most wickets taken by players under MI captains in IPL:

62 by Harbhajan Singh under Rohit Sharma 
61 by Lasith Malinga under Sachin Tendulkar

Gujarat Lions 105/3 after 14 overs (Ishan Kishan 3. Dinesh Karthik 1)

Malinga back in the attack. Starts with a characteristic yorker. Single. Strays on the leg side with another yorker. McCullum turns it off his pads as the ball races away to the fine leg boundary. Cleans up McCullum with the next ball . A near yorker and goes through the gate. McCullum missed it completely to have his stumps rattled. Not one of McCullum’s more charismatic innings, but good application showed by him. Dinesh Karthik the next batsman to the crease and gets a peach of a delivery from Malinga. A yorker on the legs. Just misses thge leg stump and runs away to the boundary. Wide called. Wasn’t there a touch of the pads though? Replays confirmed that the umpire was right. 12 runs from that over, but a far better over than the runs concedec would suggest.

OUT! McCullum bowled by Malinga. GL 99/3 in the 14th over.

Brendon McCullum b Malinga 65(44)

MI gets Raina at a crucial juncture in the inning again. Just like they did with Kohli’s wicket against RCB. Raina will be terribly disappointed after failing to capitalize on a start. He has played some handy knocks so far in the tournament but hasn’t looked his flamboyant self. Rohit Sharma took another neat catch to dismiss him, his lack of form with the bat isn’t affecting his fielding any bit. Harbhajan Singh has bowled a brilliant spell again. He is still a handful in this format. Some may call it a bold call, but he could well be India’s best T20 spinner at the moment.

Gujarat Lions 93/2 after 13 overs (Brendon McCullum 60, Ishan Kishan 3)

Bumrah to bowl the 13th over. Clever changes of pace, but gets the yorker horribly wrong on the fifth ball and ends up bowling a full toss and McCullum picks it up and deposits it into the stands at backward square leg. It was very nearly a no ball being close to being above the batsman’s waist. A forceful shot from McCullum to long off on the last ball. Single. Ten runs from that over.

Brendon McCullum just keeps on keeping on. Yet another T20 fifty for the New Zealander, his 37th in all. With the way that teams have been chasing down totals in this IPL they will want him to double that. Anything under 200 and Mumbai will fancy their chances.

Gujarat Lions 83/2 after 12 overs (Brendon McCullum 52, Ishan Kishan 1)

Harbhajan will bowl out. Comes in for his last over and foxes Raina. Raina comes down the track, Bhajji bowls a flighted one well outside off, Raina is beaten in flight, has to reach for it, and doesn’t get the timing right. Rohit Sharma takes a tumbling catch at point. The craft of Bhajji fully on show there. Nearly gets another wicket in that over, as he beats new man Ishan Kishan in flight and Parthiv behind the stumps whips off the bails in a flash, but not fast enough, it seems. Ishan had his bat grounded. Only two runs in that over and a wicket.

Nemeses of Suresh Raina in IPL:
5 – HARBHAJAN SINGH*
4 – Dwayne Bravo, Piyush Chawla

Most runs against a team in IPL:

797 – Chris Gayle v KXIP
707* – SURESH RAINA v MI*
706 – Virat Kohli v CSK

OUT! Raina foxed by Harbhajan. GL 81/2 in the 12th over.

Raina c Rohit b Harbhajan 28(29)

Ishan Kishan is the new man in.

Gujarat Lions 81/1 after 11 overs (Brendon McCullum 51, Raina 28)

Krunal continues. McCullum gets to a fifty by turning one to deep square leg. A single off every delivery in that over. A close call for McCullum on the last ball. A direct hit would have been interesting.

Gujarat Lions 75/1 after 10 overs (Brendon McCullum 48, Raina 25)

Harbhajan continues. Good flight in that over from the wily offie. McCullum gets a four off the fourth ball with a slog sweep.

Pace off the ball is the way to go on this pitch it seems especially while McCullum is in the middle who loves ball coming on to the bat. That six of cover against Malinga was the kind of trademark McCullum shot that people come to the ground for. Despite those two sixes in an over, McCullum has played a lot of dot balls and MI have managed to keep things under check. GL wouldn’t want to repeat the same mistake as RCB did against MI when they delayed the charge too late and lost wickets at critical moments to post a below par total.

Gujarat Lions 67/1 after 9 overs (Brendon McCullum 42, Raina 23)

Krunal Pandya continues. Raina on-drives sending the ball racing towards the boundary. A fine piece of fielding by Pollard at the fence, and good follow up by Buttler restricts the batsmen to two. A rank bad ball to end the over. Short and asking to be hit. McCullum rocks back and sends the ball hurtling to the midwicket fence. Spoils what was turning out to be another good over.

Harbhajan Singh becomes the second bowler to bowl 1000 dot balls in IPL after Praveen Kumar.

Players scoring 700-plus runs against a team in IPL:

Chris Gayle v KXIP
Virat Kohli v CSK
SURESH RAINA v MI

Gujarat Lions 58/1 after 8 overs (Brendon McCullum 37, Raina 19)

Harbhajan back. Raina goes down on one knee and plays a lofted drive off the first ball. Gets a single and brings up the  fifty of the Gujarat innings. Harbhajan to McCullum. Sweeps and gets four through midwicket. McClenaghan almost makes a hash in at the boundary, but luckily for him the ball stays in play. Two runs taken.

Gujarat Lions 49/1 after 7 overs (Brendon McCullum 30, Raina 17)

Krunal Pandya into the attack for the first time. Smartly varies his lengths in that over, Just three runs there.

Gujarat Lions 46/1 after 6 overs (Brendon McCullum 29, Raina 15)

Malinga back. A short-pitched one and there is width on offer too. McCullum makes room and cuts over point for the first six of the innings. He goes after Malinga again. A short one again and MacCullum hammers it over mid on for the second six of the over. A length delivery outside off then. No foot movement from McCullum as he swings at it and gets an inside edge. No harm done though. The last ball is pitched up and McCullum gets it past the in-field. Rohit Sharma gives chase from mid on and pulls the ball back before it touched the boundary cushions. Two runs taken. Lethargic running by Raina though. GL could have had another run. Fifteen runs from that over. Average progress for GL in the powerplay though. The umires call for strategic timeout.

Mitchell McCleneghan had a superb last game against RCB where he troubled Gayle and Kohli with his variations in length and pace. He was lucky to get Dwayne Smith out early but has kept it tight after that with his usual variations. Gujarat still have a lot of fire power left in their line up. They would look to post a healthy total to keep them in the hunt. Jason Roy should come to the party too at some stage. He is too good a player to be away from limelight in this competition. Probably Finch’s stolen baggage is the lucky break he needed!

Harbhajan Singh in powerplay overs in this IPL:

v SRH: 2-0-10-0
v RCB: 2-0-7-0  
v GL: 1-0-3-0
Total: 5-0-20-0

Gujarat Lions 31/1 after 5 overs (Brendon McCullum 15, Raina 14)

Bumrah into the attack now. Raina jumps well outside the leg stump and Bumrah follows him. Played away on the leg side for a single. A play and a miss from McCullum, who picks up the length of the next delivery early and dances down the track to smash it straight past the bowler for a four. Almost edged the next one to the keeper. Goes the aerial route on the last ball. The ball floats in the air but drops well short of the man at wide ong off.

A slow start from the Lions after some decent bowling from Mumbai. Harbhajan is still such a canny operating in this form of the game and his is doing a decent job inside the powerplay. The talk at the toss was that this pitch was dry, so we will have to see if he gets any turn. So far most of the deliveries have been fired in quite quickly. Dwayne Smith going early is a big loss after his opening stand with McCullum in the last match proved match winning.

Gujarat Lions 24/1 after 4 overs (Brendon McCullum 9, Raina 13)

Harbhajan Singh into the attack. A very tidy over. Varied his length well in that over. Strated with a tossed up one around off stump and a couple of more flighted ones and a flat, quicker one.

Gujarat Lions 21/1 after 3 overs (Brendon McCullum 8, Raina 11)

McClenaghan continues. A short one to McCullum. He waits for it and pulls it behind square for a boundary. But then fails to get his timing right in that over. Comes down the track but chops the ball down on the pitch and the ball goes nowhere. That is followed by an uppish drive that falls short of mid off and then a play and miss.

Most ducks in T20 cricket:

25 – DWAYNE SMITH*
24 – Umar Akmal 
23 – Herschelle Gibbs, Tillakaratne Dilshan

Gujarat Lions 15/1 after 2 overs (Brendon McCullum 3, Raina 10)

Malinga into the attack. Starts with a slower delivery. Then bowls one on the pads of Raina and Raina turns it round the corner for four. Chants of ‘Malinga Malinga’ ringing around the Wankhede. If conceding that boundary is not enough , Malinga has overstepped. It’s a no ball. FREE HIT. Raina on strike. Malinga bowls a half volley and Raina cracks a cover drive for four. Takes full toll of the free hit. Twelve runs rom that over.

MI have looked the form team so far in this competition along with KKR and SRH. If they continue their winning streak, a place at the top of the table is up for grabs. GL have struggled to pick a balanced side in this competition. They probably managed to get their best eleven on the ground in the last game where they managed their first win. Trivia enthusiasts would already be taking a note of this game after Raina at the toss said Aaron Finch couldn’t get into the team because his kit bag was stolen. When was the last time you heard something like that!

Suresh Raina v Harbhajan Singh in IPL:
Runs – 101
Balls – 94
Dismissals – 4
Average – 25.25
SR – 107.45

Will MI bring Harbhajan Singh early today to stop Suresh Raina?

Gujarat Lions 3/1 after 1 over (Brendon McCullum 1, Raina 1)

McClenaghan starts with one down the leg side. Wide. A straightish delivery next up, followed by a length delivery angling away from the batsman. Dwayne Smith slashes at it but doesn’t manage to keep it down. The ball goes straight to Nitish Rana at backward point. OUT! Terrible start by Gujarat. Mumbai have a wicket with the second legal delivery of the match and it is the dangerous Dwayne Smith gone. Suresh Raina walks in to join Brendon McCulluma the crease. A juicy full toss outside off from McClenaghan, but McCullum missed out of a certain boundary. His drive goes to the fielder. Three runs and a wicket from the first over. The Wankhede is asea of blue and the atmosphere is electric.

DID YOU KNOW?

Suresh Raina holds the record of scoring most runs against MI in IPL. He has scored 679 runs from 24 matches at an average of 35.74 before this game.

OUT! Terrible start by Gujarat. Dwayne Smith falls without scoring to McClenaghan. GL 1/1 in the first over.

Dwayne Smith c Nitish Rana b McClenaghan 0(2)

Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith open the innings for GL. Mitchell McClenaghan starts the bowling for Mumbai.

Head to Head: (MI v GL)

Matches – 2
MI won – 0
GL won – 2

Two changes for the Lions who have lost Aaron Finch because he has misplaced his kit bag. Munaf Patel also comes in the side for Jakati. Finch is a big loss, but Jason Roy is a very able replacement. Munaf is a decent switch for Jakati, he has much more experience. 

Mumbai have been a bit hit and miss thus far, and could still improve despite their three wins in four games. The Lions have been mostly miss until they finally got things right the last game, but for the Mumbaikars are the favourites for this one.

Two changes for Gujarat Lions — Munaf Patel comes in place of Shadab Jakati and Jason Roy in place of Aaron Finch.

One change for Mumbai Indians — Lasith Malinga comes in place of Tim Southee.

Mumbai Indians win the toss and elect to field first.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Match 16 of IPL 2017. It is Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Lions at the Wankhede. Mumbai have momentum on their side with three back to back wins after the loss in the first match. They are second on the table at the moment. Gujarat, on the other hand, have won only one match this season and are languishing near the bottom of the table. They would badly want to continue the good work done in the previous match against Pune. It’s going to be a cracking contest…