Mumbaikars got what they were waiting for. A bit of rain to ease the sweltering heat and an entertaining Rohit Sharma knock. While rain delayed play for 45 minutes on Friday night, Rohit’s knock of 38-ball 68, which included three huge sixes seemed to enthrall the crowd who’ve had very little to cheer about his season. After the initial blazing knocks, Rohit’s form tapered off though. His 68 on Friday showed what he’s capable of doing and though it was too late, it will hold him in good stead going into the T20 World Cup.
Lucknow Super Giants needed to beat Mumbai by a gargantuan margin to be in the race for a playoff spot mathematically. Their skipper KL Rahul has been under fire off late for not playing the ‘blazing’ T20 style cricket. It seemed he failed to get the memo again. At the halfway stage LSG could only manage 69-3 and that was largely due to Rahul failing to make most of the powerplay (he was then on 27 off 25 balls). Though he ended up scoring a 41-ball 55, he did little to silence his critics.
Nicholas Pooran knew he had to make up for Rahul’s poor strike rate and came in all guns blazing. With a stunning 29-ball 75 that included eight sixes and five fours, he ensured his team reached a respectable total of 214-6. Rahul’s failure to switch gears in a way masked Mumbai’s bowling woes. Skipper Hardik Pandya had to use as many as eight bowling options. Of the eight, only Piyush Chawla (3/29) and Nuwan Tushara (3/28) did well.
Mumbai rested Jasprit Bumrah for Arjun Tendulkar in this dead rubber game. He did fairly well in his first and last match of the season, taking the new ball in the powerplay. He bowled seven dots in 12 balls, conceding only one boundary. When he came back to bowl in the 15th over though, he was smacked for two straight sixes by Pooran. Ironically, the sixes landed in the Sachin Tendulkar stand’s second and third tier respectively. Cramping, Arjun couldn’t continue and had to walk off the field.
And thus, despite having Rohit Sharma, the No. 1 T20I batter in Suryakumar Yadav, arguably the best pacer in Jasprit Bumrah and to top it all, Hardik Pandya, MI finished at the bottom.
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