Suryakumar's robust century propels Mumbai Indians closer to playoff berth, rocks Gujarat Titans despite Rashid Khan's fightback

Suryakumar's supershow

Suryakumar whacked a whirlwind 49-ball 103 riding on six maximums and 11 fours to help Paltans post a mountainous total of 218/5. In reply, Gujarat's batters fell like a house of cards and were restricted to 191/8 despite Rashid Khan's scintillating 32-ball 79. Rashid also bowled an exceptional spell of 4/30, which also earned him Purple Cap with 23 scalps in 12 matches, but his efforts went in vain as his side went down to mighty Mumbai.

Titans' batting collapse

While chasing a colossal target of 219, GT got off to a shaky start as they lost Wriddhiman Saha, skipper Hardik and Shubman Gill in back-to-back overs. Akash Madhwal trapped Saha (2 off 5) in the second last ball of the second over. Hardik (4 off 3) followed suit and was caught behind off Jason Behrendorff in the third over. Madhwal struck back in the following over to give marching orders to Gill (6 off 9), who came in as impact player. Vijay Shankar and David Miller were in the middle when GT's scoreboard read 26/3. But Piyush Chawla halted Shankar's cameo in the seventh over after GT's middle-order batter scored 14-ball 29. The next batsman to return to pavilion was Abhinav Manohar (2 off 3) whose stumps were rattled by Kumar Kartikeya. 

Miller-Tewatia rekindled hopes

With GT wobbling at 55/5 after 7.1 overs, it was all upto ‘Killer’ Miller and ‘Iceman’ Rahul Tewatia. The explosive duo started taking MI bowlers to cleaners with their power hitting at the dazzling pair stitched together a fiery partnership of 45 off 29 balls to help GT touch the 100-run mark in 12th over despite early jolts. But Madhwal came back to get rid off the dangerous looking Miller on last ball of the 12th over. Miller was found lbw after scoring lightning 26-ball 41 which was decorated with four big ones and three boundaries. Miller's friend Tewatia's dismissal one ball later dashed Titans' hopes as he holed out to Cameron Green off Chawla's over to leave his team in lurch.

One Man army Rashid's fightback

When it was all over for Titans, Rashid Khan entertained the Wankhede crowd to the fullest with his batting blitz. He hammered Paltans' bowlers for fun in his six-laden knock as he kept ticking the scoreboard. Rashid took GT as close as possible as he knew the importance of Net Run Rate going ahead in the tournament. Rashid smoked 10 sixes and three fours and he toyed with Rohit's bowlers right till the end but to only see his side going down to MI by 27 runs.

Earlier, Suryakumar hammered his maiden IPL century (103 not out) to power MI to 218/5, their fourth consecutive 200-plus score, against Titans.

Besides Suryakumar's 49-ball onslaught, skipper Rohit Sharma (29), Ishan Kishan (31) and Vishnu Vinod (30) also chipped in for MI after invited to bat first at the Wankheded stadium. MI's robust batting was unaffectd by Rashid Khan's (4/30) ace bowling.

Rohit, who looked in fine touch finally after going through miserable form throughout the IPL 2023, as he stitched together a 61-runs opening stand with Kishan in the powerplay to set the tone for MI. During his 29-run knock Rohit blasted two sixes and three fours to also complete 200 maximums for MI and 252 overall by surpassing AB de Villiers' 251. 

But Rashid gave GT their first breakthrough after Rohit was caught in the first slip. Rashid didn't stop there as he went on to snare Kishan's wicket four balls later. Rashid continued to make inroads as he had Nehal Wadhera (15) chop one onto his wickets, but MI’s acceleration was enough to take them to 96 for three at halfway mark. Suryakumar and Vinod then took the attack to Mohammed Shami (0/53), hitting him for 15 runs in the 13th over, before the two batters smacked Alzarri Joseph for a six each in the 12th.

Vinod perished in the 16th over as he hit a full toss off Mohit to be dismissed for a fine 30 off 20 balls (2x4s, 2x6s), having put on a 42-ball 65 for the fourth wicket with Suryakumar.

Rashid, however, kept chipping away as he snapped the key wicket of Tim David (5) in the 17th over, taking an easy return catch for his fourth wicket in the game.

However, undeterred by the fall of wickets Suryakumar kept on wreaking havoc with the bat with his barrage of sixes which left Titans' bowlers clueless as to where to bowl and where not to. Suryakumar collected 20 runs in the 18th over with three fours and a six and brought up his first century of IPL career with a six off the last ball of the innings.

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