On Saturday afternoon, Mumbai Indians won the toss and put Lucknow Super Giants to bat first under the warm sun at Brabourne Stadium. The men in blue led by Rohit Sharma stepped into the field intending to register their first win and get off the mark. However, their hopes were washed away as KL Rahul guided his team to victory with an unbeaten century and crucial decision-making.
A Moment of Silence for Rahul
The innings began strongly with Rahul and de Kock taking on the weak Mumbai bowling lineup with ease. Apart from Bumrah who was economical as usual, no other bowler could stop the flow of runs. Tymal Mills was particularly dismal as he conceded 54 runs in only 3 overs, with his last over going for 22 runs. After de Kock fell to Fabian Allen, Manish Pandey steadied the ship and built up a 64-run partnership with his skipper for the 3rd wicket.
Deepak Hooda also played a short cameo at the end with 15 runs off just 8 balls. But it was Rahul who dominated the lineup as his second ton against Mumbai Indians helped in providing a defendable score for his bowlers. Despite a strong run rate throughout the innings, Lucknow seemed 10-15 runs short of a potential target owing to Jaydev Unadkat, who gave away only 4 runs in the last over. The bowlers were not helped by the miserable fielding either, with almost a dozen misfields giving away 20-30 runs.
So Close Yet So Far
In the second innings, the responsibility of chasing the mammoth target fell on the opening pair, together worth around a whopping 30 crores. The combination of young Kishan and veteran Rohit
fell cheaply, further highlighting the troubles of the top order. Despite being bought as the highest bid in the auction, Kishan has not impressed so far, with his record in India contrasting highly with that of UAE. Skipper Rohit’s form also continues to come under scrutiny, even as he enters the 10,000 T20 runs club. Despite the horrid start, the middle order did well to take advantage of the powerplay.
18 years old Dewald Brevis, often touted as Baby AB, displayed his power-hitting skill once again with a score of 31 off just 13 balls. But the inexperienced South African batsman did not last long as he succumbed to a juicy lower full toss by Avesh Khan that went straight into the hands of Deepak Hooda.
It fell to Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma to save the middle order from collapse yet again. The two stitched together a crucial 50-run partnership to put up a strong resistance. However, the Lucknow bowlers fought back hard and successively dismissed both the batsmen.
In the end, only Keiron Pollard was left with the tail exposed, hoping to save the day as he has done so many times in the past. He was aided by Jaydev Unadkat, whose impressive form continued with the bat as he scored 14 runs at a strike rate of 233, consisting of one six and two boundaries. With Pollard still at the crease, it seemed as if Mumbai still had a chance to save some grace. But even for the mighty West Indies batsman, it was not a child’s play to score 25 runs in the last over. Krunal Pandya had taken over the captaincy in the death overs after Rahul got off the field due to a hamstring issue. Krunal, whose brother’s team leads the points table, managed the situation well as Lucknow restricted Mumbai to 181/9 in a thrilling chase.
The anguish on Rohit Sharma’s face could not be hidden by the false celebration of a wicket during the first innings as he expressed his disappointment in the post-match presentation. Mumbai Indians are not lacking the best 11 players but rather the performance of those chosen individuals.
Apart from Bumrah and Suryakumar, none of the players have looked convincing and it is telling as the team with 5 tournament wins languishes at the bottom of the table with zero points in 6 matches. They have now matched RCB’s record of 6 consecutive losses. None of this takes away KL Rahul’s performance, whose ton takes him to 2nd spot in the Orange Cap race. His newly founded team also sits proudly at the 2nd spot on the table, with only Gujarat Titans ahead of them.
Published by: Aditya Negi
Edited by: Khushi Thakur
