IPL 2023: Suryakumar’s century overshadowed Rashid’s all-round game, Mumbai beat Gujarat by 27 runs

Mumbai Mumbai Indians defeated Gujarat Titans by 27 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 match here on Friday on the basis of a brilliant performance by the bowlers after Suryakumar Yadav’s 49-ball unbeaten 103-run innings. Batting first, Mumbai restricted Gujarat’s innings to 191 for eight after scoring 218 for five. After this victory, the Mumbai team reached the third position in the table with 14 points from seven wins in 12 matches. The Gujarat team is at the top with 16 points in as many matches. Rashid Khan’s all-round game did not prove to be enough for Gujarat to win. After taking four wickets for 30 runs in four overs, he scored an unbeaten 79 runs in 32 balls with the help of 10 sixes and three fours.

Rashid shared an unbroken 88-run partnership in 40 balls with Joseph (7 runs in 12 balls) for the ninth wicket. Apart from him, only David Miller (41 off 26 balls) and Vijay Shankar (29 off 14 balls) could make some contribution with the bat. Akash Madhwal took three wickets for 31 runs for Mumbai. Two each for Piyush Chawla and Kumar Karthikeya while Jason Behrendorff got a breakthrough. Suryakumar completed his first century in IPL by hitting a six against Alzarri Joseph on the last ball of the match. He hit 11 fours and six sixes around the ground in his innings. The ‘Mr 360 degree’ batsman made two half-century partnerships during this period.

He shared an unbroken 18-ball 54-run partnership with Cameron Green for the sixth wicket after sharing a 42-ball 62 for the fourth wicket with Vishnu Vinod (30 off 20 balls). Green’s contribution in this was just three runs in three balls. Ishan Kishan (31 runs in 20 balls), Rohit Sharma (29 runs in 18 balls) and Vishnu also contributed well with the bat for the team. Defending the target, Madhwal got Wriddhiman Saha (two runs in five balls), and Shubman Gill (six runs in nine balls) while Jason Behrendorff got the wicket of captain Hardik Pandya (four runs in three balls) to get Mumbai off to a good start. Meanwhile, Vijay Shankar kept the run pace going by hitting six fours against both these bowlers. The team’s score in the Powerplay was 48 for three.

In the next over, Piyush Chawla bowled Vijay Shankar on his first ball, then in the eighth over, Kumar Kartikeya also made his bowling debut by bowling Abhinav Manohar (two runs in three balls). Due to this, half of the Gujarat team returned to the pavilion for 55 runs. After this, David Miller and Rahul Tewatia focused on grooming the innings. Miller hit a six and two fours against Chawla in the ninth over. He completed his team’s century by hitting the second six of his innings against Madhwal in the 12th over but was trapped leg before on the last ball of the over. On the very next ball, Chawla trapped Tewatia in his spin and broke all the hopes of Gujarat. Team Kartikeya dismissed Noor Ahmed (one run in three balls) in the 14th over. At this time the team’s score was 103 runs for eight wickets.

Rashid Khan then hit two sixes against Kartikeya and one against Behrendorff. He took the team’s score to 150 in the 17th over by hitting two fours and a six against Jordan. He completed his half-century in 21 balls by hitting two sixes against Cameron Green, who came to bowl in the 18th over. He then reduced the margin of defeat by hitting four sixes in the last two overs. Earlier, Rohit and Ishan got Mumbai off to a flying start by adding 61 runs in the powerplay. Rohit showed signs of getting back in touch with two fours and a six in the second over against Mohit Sharma. In the next over, he and Ishan Kishan hit one six each against Mohammed Shami. Rashid gave Gujarat a chance to celebrate by removing both the openers in the seventh over.

Nehal Wadhera, who has been impressive in the last two matches, hit a four and a six against Noor Ahmed but was bowled in the ninth over to become Rashid’s third victim. Suryakumar Yadav, running in excellent rhythm, opened his hand against Alzarri Joseph with a four, while Vishnu Vinod, batting for the first time in the season, hit the bowler for a six in the 12th over. In the same over, Suryakumar hit the first six of his innings. Vishnu vindicated the team management’s decision to send him in to bat ahead of Cameron Green and Tim David in the 13th over, hitting Shami for fours and sixes in consecutive deliveries.

Suryakumar, who batted carefully against Rashid and Noor, again hit Joseph for a four and a six in the 15th over to take the team’s score to 150. Mohit ended Vishnu’s innings studded with two fours and two sixes in the 16th over.Tim David became the fourth victim of Rashid Khan in the 17th over. Suryakumar faced 15 balls in the last three overs and added 50 runs in these 15 balls. After hitting three fours and a six against Mohit in the 18th over, he hit a six and two fours against Shami in the 19th over. He completed his century with two sixes in the last over.