IPL 10, Match 35, Gujarat Lions v Mumbai Indians: 5 Game Changing Moments

It was not a match for the faint-hearted as fortunes fluctuated from Mumbai Indians to Gujarat Lions until finally Jasprit Bumrah held his nerve and delivered a sensational super over conceding only 6 runs to hand Mumbai a victory by 5 runs in the super over. It was a heck of a match and credit must go to Gujarat Lions for making this match so close. Mumbai bowlers bowled pretty well up front but Gujarat came back in the end to post a challenging score of 153 in their 20 overs.

Mumbai was cruising towards the target and was comfortably placed at 109/3 when Parthiv Patel was dismissed. From there on Gujarat started clawing their way back and took wickets at regular intervals to stem the run flow. Basil Thampi was simply terrific and finished with figures of 3/29 in his 4 overs. The win also means Mumbai strengthen their position at the top 2 and is within touching distance of the play-offs.

That said here we look at the 5 game-changing moments of the 35th match of the tournament

Teenager Ishan Kishan shines with a well composed 48

17-year-old Ishan Kishan looked in ominous touch during his fluent innings of 48 of 35 deliveries. The whipped flick of Lasith Malinga was perhaps the shot of the day. The southpaw got into a perfect position and deposited a veteran fast bowler over the deep midwicket boundary for a huge six. He kept on rotating the strike along and kept the scoreboard ticking despite wickets falling at the other end.

He began with a six and a couple of fours of Kiwi pacer Mitchell McCleneghan and then smashed veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh for a couple more boundaries in the very next. He slowed down in the middle overs ue to the fall of wickets and was eventually dismissed by Harbhajan. He went for a big shot and was holed out in the deep by Kieron Pollard.

Krunal Pandya’s exceptional all-round performance

Krunal has been an asset fort Mumbai Indians in this season so far. He has contributed with both bat and the ball and has lent the much-needed stability in the team along with brother Hardik. He was quite sensational with the ball in hand and finished with figures of 3/14 in his 4 overs. He dismissed Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja and Irfan Pathan in quick succession which pushed the hosts to a corner.

He bowled in the perfect areas and the GL batsmen kept on repeating the mistakes. With the bat in hand, Krunal almost won MI the game but eventually in ended in a tie. In the final over with 11 required, Krunal struck a terrific straight six of Irfan Pathan which totally tilted the scales in favour of Mumbai. Though he couldn’t quite finish the match off for MI, he at least made sure they got a chance in the super over.

Parthiv Patel dazzles with a brilliant 70

Southpaw Parthiv Patel has looked in good touch during the tournament so far and today was his turn to convert his starts into a substantial score. He stroked his way to a 44 balls 70 which included 9 fours and a solitary six before falling to James Faulkner in the final delivery of the 14th over.

He began with a crisp cover drive of Basil Thampi and followed it with a couple more gorgeous shots in the very next overs. Fours kept flowing from his blade as Mumbai were coasting along towards the target. He smashed his only six of Irfan Pathan in the 3rd over as he came dancing down the track and deposited a half tracker from the left-arm seamer over the square leg boundary.

Basil Thampi’s impressive spell

Youngster Basil Thampi was bowling well in the tournament but wasn’t quite getting the wickets. His fortunes changed today as the 23-year-old returned with figures of 3/29 in 4 overs. He bagged 3 crucial wickets at important junctures of the game which pegged Mumbai back.

He bowled an exceptional penultimate over conceding only 4 runs. He also bagged the crucial wickets of Hardik Pandya and Harbhajan Singh while Irfan Pathan executed an exceptional run out in the final delivery. As Mitchell McCleneghan was running for life to complete the 2nd but Irfan had other ideas as he executed a brilliant run out to perfection.

Super Over

Now coming to the super over, Mumbai Indians came out to bat first as they had batted 2nd in the match. Their designated batsmen were Jos Buttler, Kieron Pollard and Rohit Sharma. After conceding a single in the first ball, Pollard smashed a four and a six of James Faulkner. They couldn’t quite finish well as both Pollard and Buttler fell in consecutive deliveries.

Jasprit Bumrah was handed over the duties to bowl the super over. He bowled a very good Yorker but to his utter horror, it was a no ball. He followed it up with an exceptional delivery of the free hit but again conceded a wide in the next ball. The next 5 balls were simply superb from Bumrah as both Finch and McCullum had no idea to counter it. While he delivered two exceptional Yorkers to Aaron Finch, McCullum was totally deceived by the slower balls.