Mohammad Kaif rues missed chance of Nitish Rana as the turning point in yesterday's game

Gujarat Lions assistant coach Mohammad Kaif rued the missed chance of Nitish Rana in yesterday’s encounter as the turning point which tilted the scale in favour of the Mumbai Indians. The home team looked thoroughly professional and clinched a keenly fought contest by 6 wickets and with 3 balls to spare.

It was the swashbuckling innings of 64 from former Kiwis captain Brendon McCulllum which propelled the visitors to a score of 176. Dinesh Karthik also played a brilliant hand remaining unbeaten on 48 of a mere 26 deliveries. Mitchell McCleneghan was the pick of the Mumbai Indians bowlers finishing with 2/24 in his allotted 4 overs.

From Mumbai’s point of view, they needed a good start to chase the total down but it wasn’t to be as opener Parthiv Patel was dismissed in the very first over of the innings. The resurrecting job was started by Jos Buttler and Nitish Rana but just when Mumbai looked in a comfortable position, Buttler was dismissed.

Despite the fall of the wicket, Rana kept playing his natural game and accumulated runs to keep the scoreboard ticking for Mumbai. He scored a magnificent 52 of 36 deliveries, an innings constructed with 4 fours and 2 sixes. It was a great knock by the young lad who has been in sensational form in this season so far.

The southpaw was also supported by the big Caribbean lad Kieron Pollard who scored a 23 balls 39 and also by captain Rohit Sharma who roared back to form with a well composed 40. The left-hander who played some gorgeous shots got a lucky reprieve while batting on 9. It was a horrendous piece of fielding by Englishman Jason Roy who literally missed a dolly.

The short delivery from Basil Thampi caught Rana by surprise but still, he went on with the shot and got the top part of the bat. The ball ballooned straight up in the air and Jason Roy stationed at the mid wicket region got to a good position to take the catch but in the end, he made a total mess of it which deprived Thampi if his maiden IPL wicket.

Lions coach Mohammad Kaif was of the opinion that it was the catch which changed the course of the match given the fact that Nitish Rana has been in sublime form and scoring runs at a pretty brisk pace. “That catch would have made a lot of difference. Rana is in good form. In IPL or any T20 match, if you get back-to-back wickets, you are going to be on the top. That catch hurt us badly,” Kaif told PTI after the match.

The former Indian batsman also praised his former teammate Harbhajan Singh whose spell was instrumental in keeping GL down to 176 in 20 overs. In his 4 overs, Harbhajan conceded only 22 runs while bagging the precious wicket of Suresh Raina. “We were few runs short, probably 15 runs short. We had a good start, lost one wicket in the power-play. When Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) came to bowl, he bowled very well and gave away nothing,” Kaif said.