Lions wags its tails to reach 153 for 9 vs Mumbai Indians

Rajkot: Gujarat Lions suffered a batting collapse before a rear-guard action saw them post a decent 153 for 9 with Mumbai Indians producing yet another inspired bowling performance in an IPL encounter, here today.

Save young Ishan Kishan (48 off 35 balls) and the seasoned Ravindra Jadeja (28), the other Gujarat Lions batsmen were guilty of playing loose shots with home team reeling at 101 for 7.

It was Andrew Tye's 12-ball-25 with two sixes and two fours and 42-run eighth wicket stand with James Faulkner (21 off 27 balls) that atleast provided Gujarat with a total to fight.

This was after the former India U-19 captain Kishan's attractive strokeplay provided a solid platform which they failed to capitalise.

Lasith Malinga (2/33 in 4 overs) made a successful comeback into the team removing the dangerous Brendon McCullum (6) and in-form Aaron Finch (1) to make it easier for the other bowlers.

Harbhajan Singh (1/23 in 4 overs) was once again at his parsimonious best. He found an able ally in left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya (3/14 in 4 overs) as the duo tightened the noose around the Lions batting line-up.

In fact, Krunal after fireworks with the bat was today lethal with the ball.

Harbhajan-Krunal duo gave away only 37 runs between them  in the eight overs bowled and also poached four wickets.

More importantly, they bowled as many as 27 dot balls. Add Malinga's 10 to it, Mumbai Indians' three bowlers in all produced more than six maiden overs to make life miserable for the Lions batsmen.

The start was good for Lions despite Malinga cleaning up McCullum. Kishan hit some fantastic strokes including a six each off Malinga and Mitchell McClenaghan. Malinga was smashed over mid-wicket while McClenaghan was hooked for good measure. He also hit six boundaries.

But once skipper Suresh Raina failed to check his shot off a Jasprit Bumrah delivery, things started falling apart.

Finch (1) was played on off Malinga.

Dinesh Karthik (2) was stumped when Krunal deliberately pushed one down the leg.

At 56 for 4, Jadeja joined Kishan as they added 27 runs before Harbhajan, who had kept the Jharkhand left-hander quiet after the first over got him to loft one that was taken by Pollard at long.

Jadeja and Irfan Pathan were snuffed out before Tye and Faulkner joined hands to do some damage control.