Suryakumar Yadav dazzles at Wankhede as MI flex their muscles against GT

Mumbai Indians (MI) produced a complete performance against the Gujarat Titans on Friday to assert themselves not only as a strong favourite for the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs, but even for an unprecedented sixth crown.

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MI have had a mixed run so far this season, starting off on a familiar rocky note before picking up pace in the middle stages. While the five-time champions continue to be challenged, especially on the bowling front in the absence of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, their batting has more than made up for their shortcomings in the other departments and ensured they remain in the hunt for a top four finish.

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On Friday however, MI dished out what was perhaps their most clinical performance of the season so far, one that was reminiscent of the Mumbai Indians of the old that used to collect trophies for fun and had established itself as one of the most dominant teams in the T20 format. It wasn’t just with the bat that they had delivered the goods, their bowling unit also came to the party for a change.

SKY shines bright at Wankhede

The toast of their performance however, was the one and only Suryakumar Yadav. SKY had been going through a lean patch earlier this year, recording a hat-trick of golden ducks during the one-day series against Australia and carried that poor form over to the IPL, where he struggled in the initial season. The 31-year-old however, has been a different beast since regaining his form with a 25-ball 43 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede last month.

On Friday, however, SKY produced what not only was his best performance with the bat this season, but what surely will go down as one of the greatest knocks in the history of the world’s biggest T20 league.

Read | SKY’s confidence rubs off on guys, says MI skipper Rohit

Mumbai got off to a much better start after being invited to bat by Gujarat, with skipper Rohit Sharma showing a lot more intent and attempting to shake off his poor run with the bat in recent games. The ‘Hitman’ stitched a 61-run opening stand with Ishan Kishan, the pair scoring at over 10-an-over during the fielding restrictions.

A quick three-wicket burst by star leg-spinner Rashid Khan, two of which came in the same over right after powerplay that resulted in the dismissals of Rohit and Kishan, threatened to derail the soldi start. MI had collected 96 runs at the halfway stage, but were at a stage where a slowdown or another flurry of wickets would effectively cost them the game.

Thankfully for the home team, Surya found ideal support from Vishnu Vinod, who made his first appearance of the season and gave Mumbai another solid option in the middle order with a 20-ball 30, stitching a 65-run fourth-wicket stand.

Vishnu’s presence had allowed SKY to settle at the crease and produce the odd four or six to keep MI in the hunt for a total in the range of 200, and he was batting on 47 off 31 balls by the time Vishnu departed off the final ball of the 16th over. He would, however, save his very best for the slog overs; while he needed 32 balls to bring up his half-century, he would score his next fifty in just 17 deliveries, tearing the pace trio of Mohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Alzarri Joseph to ensure MI finished close to 220 in the end.

And along the way he produced a couple of shots that helped stamp his authority over the GT bowlers — a slice over third man off a full, wide delivery from Shami and a slog-sweep over deep square-leg off another wide ball outside off, this time off Joseph off the final ball of the innings that helped him cross the three-figure mark.

Rashid’s all-round effort in vain

The MI attack had had its issues defending totals this season, and against a potent GT batting order full of match-winners they couldn’t afford to let them settle in early and build one big partnership after another. The scoreboard pressure along with some superb powerplay bowling from Akash Madhwal and Jason Behrendorff, however, resulted in the table leaders getting uncharacteristically reduced to 26/3 inside four overs.

Mumbai would capitalise on the top start and chip away at the Gujarat batting order. Though Vijay Shankar (29) and David Miller (41) attempted to mount a rescue after the powerplay, they couldn’t stick around long enough with spinners Piyush Chawla and Kumar Kartikeya continuing to chip away and get wickets at regular intervals after the top start by the seamers.

GT would lose three wickets in as many overs after the halfway stage, getting reduced to 103/8, and the only hope they had left was that of somehow batting out their remaining overs to try and reduce the margin of defeat. And on that front, Rashid delivered brilliantly as he struck an unbeaten 79 off just 32 deliveries, his maiden IPL fifty, making a mockery of the Mumbai attack towards the back end of the Gujarat innings.

In Photos: MI exact revenge against GT with 27-run win in Mumbai

Normally a 79-run knock along with a four-wicket haul would come in a winning cause. Rashid however, was the only member of his side who delivered on the day, and for once, the Titans got a taste of the medicine that they had been dishing out to other teams for the most part since making their debut last year.

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