Mumbai Indians faced Gujarat Lions at the Wankhede stadium in a heavy-weight battle. MI was looking to continue with their winning momentum while Guajrat Lions were trying to remain unbeaten. Suresh Raina won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Raina’s decision proved to be correct as Dhawal Kulkarni struck in his very first over. He managed to get rid of Rohit Sharma which was a huge blow for MI as their batting mainstay had departed without troubling the scorers much. The local boy, Kulkarni, struck again when he got Hardik Pandya in the very next over. Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler tried to take an aggressive approach to the innings with few calculated risks. Just when the partnership started to flourish, Shadab Jakati managed to fox Buttler with a slider down the leg and Dinesh Karthik did not make any mistake in removing the bails, on-time. Pollard followed the suit when he tried to smash Pravin Tambe out of the park! Tambe was able to fox another big fish in his very next over, when he dismissed Patel who was looking to take MI to a gigantic total. Ambati Rayudu and Harbhajan Singh was the last ray of hope for MI but they did not step up to the occasion. A late cameo by Tim Southee 25 off 11 and a valiant effort by Krunal Pandya 20* off 11 took MI to a competitive total of 143-7.

With only 144 to win Gujarat Lions got off to a blazing start, taking 11 runs of the very first over. It took a special effort on the field from Hardik to dismiss Brendon McCullum, who was well prepared to cut loose. Suresh Raina joined Aaron Finch in the middle after and he was cautious in the beginning, as he and Finch assessed the situation and played accordingly. By the end of 10 overs GL looked like taking the game away, without any fight from MI. MI still believed that they could pull off a miracle tonight, which they almost did by dragging the game to the last over. Mitchell McClenaghan, the reason for MI’s comeback in the match, achieved his best IPL figures by picking up 4-21 in 4overs. With 12 needed of the last over the match went down to the wire and it was Finch who took the Lions over the finish line. A calculated knock of 67 from 54 balls earned him the man of the match award.

MI will play SRH in their next game on 18th(Monday). It will be a cracker of an encounter to see the defending champs take on a team which is still looking for a win in this year’s IPL.