Riding on Australian's unbeaten 67, IPL newcomers edge past defending champions by 3 wickets
There seems to be nothing stopping Aaron Finch and Indian Premier League (IPL) newcomers Gujarat Lions. After beating Kings XI Punjab and fellow-debutants Rising Pune Supergiants in their first two games, the Suresh Raina-led side beat defending champions Mumbai Indians by three wickets at the Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday.
It was the Mumbai Indians' second straight defeat at home, after losing to Pune in the opening match.
Orange Cap holder Finch once again proved why he's so vital in this format of the game scoring unbeaten 67 to notch up his third fifty in as many games to see his team through.
New Zealander Mitchell McClenaghan almost took the game away from the visitors by taking the wickets of James Faulker and Praveen Kumar and giving away just one run in the penultimate over, but it was too easy for Lions to score the 11 required runs in the last over of Jaspreet Bumrah, Finch sealing the win with a boundary off the last ball.
Raina, too, pitched in with a 22-ball 27, but it was Finch, who clobbered the Mumbai bowling, scoring a six and seven fours.
The Australian reached his fifty in the 46th ball he faced with a four through the gap between point and third man off the bowling of McClenaghan.
Click here for the full coverage of the IPL 2016, including commentary, fixtures, scorecards and more.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians were put into bat after Raina won the toss and elected to field.
Praveen Kumar opened the bowling and ensured Mumbai didn't have the brightest of starts, giving just three runs in the first over. Sharma got his and Mumbai's first boundary in the first ball of the second over, when he hit Dhawal Kulkarni through covers.
But Kulkarni got the breakthrough two balls later, and Sharma could only flick the in-swinging delivery for a simple catch to Shadab Jakati at square leg. The Mumbai Indians skipper would be unhappy with that dismissal, especially after this match-winning unbeaten 84 in the previous game against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Kulkarni, who replaced Ravindra Jadeja as the latter is gearing up to tie to knot with fiance Riva Solanki in Rajkot on Sunday, struck again in the third ball of his second over. This time the victim was Hardik Pandya, who like Sharma, tried to flick it on the leg side, but could only find Jakati at short square leg, and Mumbai were reduced to 19/2.
Mumbai's gambit of sending Hardik at No. 3 failed to work again, as he was dismissed for a paltry two.
Pathiv Patel and Jos Butler steadied the innings for the hosts after the loss of two early wickets. But the 35-year-old Jakati broke the 32-run partnership after bowling a quick one, wide off leg. Seeing that Butler was edgy at the crease, Jakati bowled a quicker one. Butler came forward and was beaten by pace. Dinesh Karthik clipped the bails before Bulter could recover.
With Mumbai struggling at 51/3, the shaky Kieron Pollard came in to bat. Knowing that Mumbai needed to accelerate, Pollard chose to go for the big one. Knowing Pollard's struggle against spin, Raina introduced leggie Pravin Tambe into the attack. And the plan worked just fine, with Pollard slogging Tambe's first ball, only to find Dwayne Bravo in the field.
Mumbai opener Parthiv was playing a steady innings, trying to build partnerships, but then realised it was time to go for the big hits. In the last ball of the 13th over, Parthiv, on 34, tried to hit Tambe for a maximum, but could only find James Faulkner at deep midwicket.
After Mumbai found themselves at 99/7 in16 overs with Ambati Rayudu (20) and Harbhajan Singh (8) gone, it was time for debutant Krunal Pandya and New Zealander Tim Southee to go for the kill. And both of them did so, with Southee hitting two sixes and a four en route to his 11-ball 25.
Pandya too impressed with some rather cheeky shots, and remained unbeaten at 20 off 11 balls, and took Mumbai's total to 143 in 20 overs.
Hardik and Krunal became the first brothers to play for the same team in an IPL match.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "IPL")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}