Twitter Reactions: Raina, McCullum star as GL qualify for the playoffs

Published - 22 May 2016, 00:00 IST | Updated - 22 May 2016, 00:00 IST

2 Min Read

The Mumbai Indians took on the Gujarat Lions in a virtual quarter-final at the Green Park in Kanpur. Captain Suresh Raina won the toss as Gujarat elected to field first. While they played with an unchanged XI from their last game, MI brought in Hardik Pandya for the injured Ambati Rayudu.

Batting first, Mumbai began well but once Rohit Sharma got out, they were reduced to 45/3. From there on, youngster Nitish Rana played a fantastic knock of 70 from just 36 balls as he led MI’s batting. However once he got out, the following batsmen struggled to put runs on the board as they could only manage 19 runs in the last 3 overs.

The visitors posted 172/8 in their quota of 20 overs. Dwayne Bravo and Praveen Kumar were the pick of the bowlers for Gujarat as they got 2 wickets apiece. Dhawal Kulkarni and Dwayne Smith too got 2 wickets each but were expensive.

On the other hand, Aaron Finch got out early in the first over. But from there on it was the Raina-McCullum show. While Raina scored a stupendous 58 runs from 36 balls, Brendon McCullum also raced his way to a blistering 48 (27). In the end, Smith took GL home along with Ravindra Jadeja.

Gujarat Lions won the game by 6 wickets with 13 balls to spare. Smith who batted in the middle order today won the man of the match for his all round performance. With this win, the Gujarat qualified for the playoffs and will definitely have a place in the top 2. MI’s chances now depend on a couple of results tomorrow.

Twitter kept everyone entertained in the knockout game between GL and MI. Right from lauding Rana to trolling MI lower order batting, right from lauding Raina and McCullum to trolling MI bowling tactics, here are some of the Twitter reactions that took place during the course of the game:

Gujarat qualified to play off means Suresh Raina will play his 9th Consecutive Play off …
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) May 21, 2016

Thriller on the cards. Wickets were always the key. But asking rate not daunting so batsmen have time
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 21, 2016

Loss for Ambani's Mumbai is a win for his home state Gujarat. #IPL
— cricBC (@cricBC) May 21, 2016

McCullum finds top form at the right time and a fine partner in Raina to have Mumbai reeling. Looking very grim for the defending champs
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) May 21, 2016

Pandya brothers are fielding like Akmal brothers today! #GLvMI
— Burning Dezire. (@iam_zaid) May 21, 2016

https://twitter.com/criticalbhukkad/status/734066163265724417

#MumbaiIndians hanging by a thread. Need wickets now.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 21, 2016

Gujarat Lions are the only team to score 70 or more runs in the Powerplays in this IPL and they have done it FOUR times! #GLvMI
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) May 21, 2016

Vinay Kumar: 2-1-7-0
Others: 4-0-63-0
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) May 21, 2016

Dhoni, Raina, McCullum, a very good day for CSK.#GLvMI
— Sunil- The Cricketer (@1sInto2s) May 21, 2016

K Pandya needs to be careful of those who go full wankfest on him now – same set hyped his brother undeservingly & now dragging him down.
— Alagappan Vijaykumar (@IndianMourinho) May 21, 2016

https://twitter.com/holdingwilley/status/734060884218118153

#MumbaiIndians about 10 short of a good competitive score. At least 20 short of where they could have been. Early wickets critical.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 21, 2016

Krunal played a blinder vs #DD and Nitish has played a brilliant innings today vs #GL. Uncapped Indian players coming to #MI's rescue. ???
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 21, 2016

Vinay Kumar becomes the first Indian pacer to pick 100 wickets in IPL. #IPL #GLvMI
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) May 21, 2016

Hardik Pandya hasn't had a great #IPL2016:
Inns: 9, Runs: 44, Avg: 7.33, SR: 70.97
Let's see what he can do with the ball today. #GLvMI
— Sidhant Maheshwari (@msidhant) May 21, 2016

Nitish Rana is proof that Delhi and Mumbai can coexist.#GLvMI
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) May 21, 2016

Brilliant by Nitish Rana this.. First Krunal Pandya and now him, Mumbai Indians are unearthing gems this year! #GLvMI
— Sameer Allana (@HitmanCricket) May 21, 2016

https://twitter.com/holdingwilley/status/734042129970782208