IPL 2017: Gujarat Lions can draw heart from amazing fightback in loss against Mumbai Indians

Gujarat Lions might be struggling to make their way to the top four in the points table of the current edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), but that doesn’t mean they’re lacking on either spirit or execution. [caption id=“attachment_3397870” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Gujarat Lions. Image Courtesy: IPL/SportzPics[/caption] Sunday’s thriller against Mumbai Indians, which could very well be voted as the ‘match of the tournament’ should someone run a poll along those lines, is a case in point. A game that should have been a dead contest was instead alive and kicking, thanks to the never-say-die attitude of some members of the side. Suresh Raina elected to bat first on a pitch that looked like a good batting surface, combined with a lightning-quick outfield. Given the presence of hard-hitting batsmen such as Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch and James Faulkner in their ranks, along with the form of Ishan Kishan and Raina himself, the decision appeared to be the right one. Kishan, who is growing in stature with each passing game, both for his batting and fielding skills, aptly utilised the conditions to give the Lions the start that the needed, taking on the likes of Mitchell McClenaghan and Lasith Malinga early on. Malinga, who returned to the side in place of Mitchell Johnson (and had a look-alike of his in the stands as well), did succeed in getting rid of the dangerous McCullum early on to prevent a potential breakaway opening stand for Gujarat. However, it was Raina’s soft dismissal of Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling that signalled the early collapse. The GL skipper, who scored a heroic 84 just a couple of games ago, chipped one to Kieron Pollard at mid-off to depart for a meagre 1. The Mumbai attack, led by the ever-dependable Krunal Pandya, made a mockery of the Gujarat middle-order thereafter to reduce them to 101/7 in the 16th over. With the momentum of the game clearly in their favour, they would have expected themselves to restrict the opposition to a score within the 130-mark. Thanks to some unbelievable hitting from both Faulkner and Andrew Tye down the order, the Lions were able to get themselves to a respectable 153 while batting their quota of overs out. Tye led the counter-attack in the death overs with fearless and clean hitting, proving his worth as a handy batsman and reinforcing his value to the team in all aspects. While Gujarat couldn’t exactly capitalise on the start that they got from Kishan, Parthiv Patel’s flamboyant strokes towards both sides of the wicket got Mumbai off to a flier, and despite losing the wickets of Jos Buttler and Nitish Rana along the way, they looked set to canter their way to the target. Much like the quickfire eighth-wicket partnership earlier in their innings, one could never really rule the Lions out of the game. It took one brilliant over by birthday boy Faulkner, using his slower deliveries to great effect to get rid of both opposition skipper Rohit Sharma as well as the set batsman in Parthiv, to get the Lions back in the hunt. Everything seemed to work in Gujarat’s favour thereafter. Whether it was the outstanding fielding efforts by the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Irfan Pathan, or a superb effort by Basil Thampi in the 19th over to exert further pressure on the Mumbai lower-order with a couple of quick wickets. In the end, Gujarat pulled things back in style to change the course of the game from a lost cause to the first super-over in the league in two years. Faulkner went one step ahead by effecting two dismissals in the super over, getting rid of both Pollard and Buttler to restrict the Indians to just 11, which would have appeared to be a cakewalk for the likes of McCullum and Aaron Finch ahead of Gujarat’s reply. Except they ran into the death-bowling brilliance that is Bumrah, who used his slower balls and yorkers to deadly effect to concede just six in Mumbai’s reply with the ball, despite conceding a no-ball as well as a wide early on. In a see-saw battle between the the two sides that swung from one result to another like a Waqar Younis inswinger, Mumbai ultimately held on to their nerves to walk away with two valuable points to stay at the second spot in the points table. They should have bagged those points anyway; they just decided to commit hara-kiri in the middle-stages of their chase, and win it the harder way. Raina’s team, however, can draw heart from their amazing comeback in the match. That combined with their recent performances against the likes of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), means they can still hope to make it to the top four. Despite being inflicted by the blow of their talismanic bowler Tye getting ruled out a day after the loss to MI, Raina’s lions have enough resources in their squad to the distance in this tournament. Other than that, their never-say-die attitude is what needs to be nurtured further for the Lions to roar loudly in the remainder of the tournament.