In a high-scoring Indian Premier League match in Mumbai on Monday, the Mumbai Indians defeated the Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets thanks to brilliant half-centuries from openers Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton.
With a smooth 84 off 44 balls and a 143-run opening partnership with Rickelton (83 off 32 balls), Rohit led the Mumbai Indians over the Lucknow Super Giants’ 228/5, completing the chase in 18.4 overs and earning their third victory in ten games to advance to six points.
With just four points from nine games, Lucknow, on the other hand, continued to be at the bottom of the standings.
Earlier, Nicholas Pooran’s first half-century of the season propelled the Rishabh Pant-led team to 228/5, giving bottom-placed LSG a glimmer of hope.
In their ninth game of the season, LSG relied on a scorching 21-ball 63 from Pooran, while opener Mitchell Marsh scored 44 in a significantly better batting performance. Before Aiden Markram (31 not out) and Himmat Singh (40 not out) gave the late push, captain Pant’s problems persisted as he managed just 15 in what has been a lackluster campaign.
Along with Mitchell Marsh’s 44 (25 balls; 4x4s, 3x6s) at the top, Pooran used poor line and lengths from MI bowlers to blast the on-side with eight sixes and a four in his minute-a-mile effort, giving LSG the lead. Corbin Bosch (2/20) put the brakes on LSG’s assault in the middle overs as they appeared to be headed for a total in excess of 240 at one point, while Jasprit Bumrah (0/45) remained wicketless and overstepped three times.
Marsh took the lead early on, hitting a six and a four off Deepak Chahar’s first over. The sole Powerplay victory for MI came from AM Ghazanfar (1/50), who got Josh Inglis caught by stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav. However, the hosts bowled poorly in the first six overs, so the breakthrough had no effect.
Maybe weary from playing Twenty20 cricket for months, an off-colour Bumrah missed two yorkers and overstepped on one, and Marsh hit fours each times. Even Suryakumar was impressed by Marsh’s enormous six off Bumrah between midwicket and long-on, even if one of those fours occurred in the fourth over.
Bumrah scored up to 21 runs in the fourth over, and MI would suffer more in the Powerplay. They sent in Will Jacks, who fed Pooran deliveries in his zone. The former captain of the West Indies responded by hitting three huge sixes to go from 3 off three to 22 off eight.
After that, Pooran attacked Ghazanfar, hitting two sixes and a four off the sixth over to propel LSG to 90/1 – the second-highest score in that period for any visiting team playing the Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium.
Despite going 17 innings without a half-century, Pooran was undoubtedly helped by MI’s subpar performance. In the eighth over, Pooran hit a six off Chahar to complete his 16-ball fifty. After just 35 balls, Pooran and Marsh scored 94 for the second wicket, and after eight overs, they were at 123/1, giving LSG complete control of the match.
However, Bosch stopped LSG’s advance by dismissing Marsh and Pooran in a double-wicket over. When he squared up Rishabh Pant off one that went between his bat and pads and licked the edge on the way to the stumper, the pacer almost had a third, but it missed Ryan Rickelton.
The LSG captain edged one behind to the ‘keeper off Jacks after falling for a 10-ball 15. After 12 overs, LSG fell from 123/1 to 160/4, and if Bumrah hadn’t gone too far when he caught Himmat Singh (40 not out) behind, it could have been 160/5. Himmat performed admirably, scoring 68 runs alongside Aiden Markram (31 not out).
