Mumbai Indians fail to capitalise start v GT

Mumbai Indians’ Ishan Kishan during their match against Gujarat Titans yesterday. Pic/BCCI; IPL

From 74-1 to 177-6. Mumbai Indians failed to capitalise on the start skipper Rohit Sharma (43 off 28 balls) and Ishan Kishan (45 off 29 balls) provided against Gujarat Titans at the Brabourne Stadium on Friday night. Thanks to Tim David's unbeaten 44 off 21 balls that included four sixes and two fours, MI managed 57 off the last five overs after GT captain Hardik Pandya, who won his seventh toss in 11 games, opted to field.

GT staged a terrific comeback led by Rashid Khan, who dismissed Rohit and Kieron Pollard (4) to finish with 4-0-24-2. At the time of going to press, GT were 54-0 after six overs. Rohit showed why he's rated so highly. He took 14 runs off the second over bowled by Alzarri Joseph that included two consecutive foursand a six. Being on the front foot, he beautifully transferred his weight back to tank it over mid-wicket.

Mohammed Shami conceded 10 runs off his second over. The scoop shot for a six in that over even had Bollywood star Ranveer Singh go ballistic in the stands. With the scoreboard reading 40-0 in four overs, Pandya introduced Rashid into the attack, but he too wasn't spared, leaking 13 runs. Lockie Ferguson was welcomed with two fours - 10 runs off his first over - as MI romped to their best Powerplay score (63-0) this IPL.

Rohit's entertaining knock ended when Rashid successfully overturned a LBW decision in GT's favour. Playing a risky reverse sweep, the MI skipper missed it completely and paid the price. GT pulled things back significantly after the Powerplay, conceding only 48 runs in the next six overs and claiming three wickets. The dismissals of Suryakumar Yadav (13) and Kishan in back-to-back overs resulted in a momentum shift. The biggest letdown was Pollard, who failed to pick Rashid's googly that forced him to come on the front foot before slightly turning away only to see his off stump disturbed.

Brief scores
MI 177-6 (I Kishan 45, T David 44', R Sharma 43; R Khan 2-24) v GT (scores incomplete)