Mumbai Indians, the defending champions of the IPL are on the verge of being knocked out after a thrashing inflicted upon them by the Gujarat Lions. After a promising and explosive start with the bat, the Mumbai Indians seemed to be well on course to get to a huge total. But the last couple of overs were bowled brilliantly by the Gujarat Lions bowlers to restrict the visitors to 172-8.
For Mumbai, it was Nitish Rana who played an absolute blinder. Rana’s 36 ball 70 was the crux of Mumbai’s innings as he hit 4 colossal sixes. Gujarat though began really strongly as Brendon McCullum came out all guns blazing. Suresh Raina was once again brilliant as he made a rapid half century. Gujarat eventually won with 13 balls to spare.
Post his side’s loss, Rohit Sharma admitted that the Gujarat batsmen were simply brilliant. “It is disappointing to lose. “We could have got 15-20 runs extra. Hats off to Raina and Baz who took the game away from us. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the breakthrough. Rana and Buttler were going pretty well, but we couldn’t finish it off well in the end. The boys tried their best, but it didn’t come off today. We analysed the wicket and we thought bowling on the stumps will work. But, like I said, they batted brilliantly, they connected pretty well. The shots they played went over the fielders,” said Sharma.
Suresh Raina was delighted with the win and thanked everyone close to the team. “I have learned a lot from Kanpur. I thank each and every fan for cheering for us. God has been really kind. Thanks to the coaching staff, they have worked pretty hard in the last couple of days. Thanks to my teammates, they have played really well today. You need to enjoy each and every practice session. Thanks to Priyanka ( his wife) and Gracia (his daughter), everything’s working well at the moment. Credit to Smithy, the way he performed. DK, PK and DJ every one stood up for us,” said Raina.