IPL 9: Late charge propels Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians batsmen struggled for the second consecutive time on the Wankhede wicket, restricted to 143/8 by the impressive Gujarat Lions bowlers in their third IPL game here on Saturday.

The home side had just managed 121/8 in the opening game here against Rising Pune Supergiants which they lost by nine wickets eventually.

Local boy Dhawal Kulkarni (2/19) who replaced Ravindra Jadeja in the XI struck the early blows by removing Mumbai teammate Rohit Sharma (7) and Hardik Pandya (2) to reduce the Indians to 19/2 in 3.3 overs.

Pravin Tambe (2/12 in two overs) then jolted the middle order to ensure Mumbai Indians never gained any real momentum until the penultimate over when James Faulkner conceded 17 runs and Dwayne Bravo went for 14 runs in the last over.

With wickets falling around him, opening batsman Parthiv Patel (34, 29b, 2x4, 2x6) tried to hold the innings together and played a couple of good shots but couldn’t dominate the bowling. Ambati Rayudu (20, 19b, 1x6) tried to steady the innings in the middle but couldn’t carry on.

Tim Southee (25, 11b, 1x4, 2x6) and Krunal Pandya (20 not out, 11b, 3x4) accelerated in the last two overs to give their side a fighting total.

Praveen Kumar swung the ball nicely early on and Kulkarni who knows the conditions well troubled the batsmen inside the powerplay overs.

Left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati and Faulkner kept the pressure on as Parthiv Patel and Jos Butler found the going tough, reaching 41/2 in eight overs.

Patel broke free with a six of Jakati but wickets kept falling at the other end. Butler’s struggle at the crease was ended with a smart stumping by Dinesh Karthik on a wide delivery from Jakati.

Another local boy Tambe was introduced in the 11th over and he got a big fish in Kieron Pollard with his first ball to further peg back the hosts’ innings. The leggie then also dismissed the well-set Patel who holed out to Faulkner in the deep.

Mumbai Indians kept faith in Southee despite Martin Guptill and Corey Anderson waiting for their turn.

Scoreboard Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma c Jakati b Kulkarni 7, P. Patel c Faulkner b Tambe 34, H. Pandya c Jakati b Kulkarni 2, J. Buttler st Karthik b Jakati 16, K. Pollard c Bravo b Tambe 1, A. Rayudu b Faulkner 20, Harbhajan Singh c Karthik b Bravo 8, K. Pandya (not out) 20, T. Southee (run out) 25, M. McClenaghan (not out) 0. Extras: (lb2, w6, nb2) 10. Total: (for 8 wkts, in 20 overs) 143. FoW: 1-7, 2-19, 3-51, 4-59, 5-77, 6-88, 7-99, 8-141. Bowling: Kumar 3-0-18-0 (1w), Kulkarni 4-1-19-2, Jakati 3-0-13-1 (1w), Faulkner 4-0-40-1 (2nb, 2w), Tambe 2-0-12-2, Bravo 4-0-39-1 (1w)