Suryakumar Yadav Smears GT with Ruthless Ton Before Rashid Khan Entertains Mumbai
Suryakumar Yadav celebrates his maiden IPL ton (IPLT20.COM)
Mumbai Indians – 218/5 in 20 overs [Suryakumar Yadav 103* (49), Ishan Kishan 31 (20); Rashid Khan 4/30 (4), Mohit Sharma 1/43 (4)] beat Gujarat Titans – 191/8 in 20 overs [Rashid Khan 79* (32), David Miller 41 (26); Akash Madhwal 3/31 (4), Piyush Chawla 2/36 (4)] by 27 runs.
Mumbai Indians scythed through table-toppers Gujarat Titans with ease in match number 57 of the ongoing IPL 2023 season. Playing in front of their home crowd at Wankhede, Rohit Sharma and co. dished out a 27-run drubbing of the Titans in a reverse fixture, having lost to Hardik Pandya’s unit by 55 runs in Gujarat earlier in the tournament.
SKY’s career-best 103* rockets MI to 218
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma gathered 61 runs off the powerplay with opening partner Ishan Kishan. The two cricketers registered identical scores, with Sharma’s 29 taking him to double-digits for the first time in his past five outings this season.
Suryakumar Yadav at number three pounced on the platform laid out by the openers, as the T20 genius hammered an undefeated 103 from just 49 balls in the innings. The dynamic batter shattered a high-flying Gujarat Titans attack with his maiden IPL ton, belting six sixes and eleven boundaries in the process.
The century marked his fourth in T20 cricket, and first outside the international level as he registered his career-best IPL score. Vishnu Vinod provided some support to Yadav in the middle overs, as the Mumbai Indians surged their way to a daunting 218-5, their fifth 200-plus score of the season.
Rashid Khan put forward Gujarat Titans’ only resistance amidst six-hitting carnage as the Afghanistan spinner claimed four wickets for just 30 in his four overs.
Chawla, Madhwal strangled GT before Rashid stole the show
In a 200-plus run-chase, Gujarat Titans in-form top three responded with the worst start imaginable as they slumped to 26-3 inside their four overs. For starters, openers Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill were removed by Mumbai Indians’ new-ball pacer Akash Madhwal for just two and six respectively.
Skipper Hardik Pandya soon followed suite with a mere boundary to his name before Vinay Shankar and David Miller put up inconsequential fightbacks in the middle overs. Seasoned spinner Piyush Chawla finished Shankar’s short resistance, while Madhwal returned to curtail Miller’s innings, as the defending champions descended into further chaos at 103-8.
Rashid Khan, who claimed three wickets amidst Mumbai Indians run-riot, blasted a career-best 32-ball 79* in the final eight overs of the innings. His undefeated 88-run stand with tail-ender Alzarri Joseph stretched the Titans' response to 191, thus saving them from a potential NRR nightmare by reducing the defeat margin.
In any case, the defeat did little-to-no damage for the Titans as Pandya and co. continue to remain at the top of the IPL 2023 points table. Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians lifted themselves up to within the top three of the competition, as the race for the playoffs reckoning heats up at the business end of the tournament.
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