In a nutshell
Mumbai chase down a competitive targe with three balls to spare to win their fourth consecutive victory for them in this season, and their first victory against the Gujarat Lions. Right from the start of the innings they looked in complete control of the proceedings. Despite losing an early wicket, they built partnerships at crucial moments to inch towards a win. Nitish Rana played a wonderful knock for his half-century to lay the groundwork. Kieron Pollard got the big hits during the middle overs while Rohit Sharma finished it off for Mumbai. Rohit had not been in great form but this innings will give him a lot of confidence.
In hindsight, the Lions will rue the dropped catch in the second over. Had Rana been dismissed early, things would have been difficult for Mumbai. Young pacer Basil Thampi bowled two great overs to somewhat lead a fightback but Mumbai held their nerve and scripted an important win. Earlier, the Gujarat batsmen had done commendably well to post a decent target on the board. But they will feel they fell 10 runs short. They could have scored more in the last two overs but were restricted by the Mumbai bowlers.
As is evident from our win probability graph (see the graph here), the Gujarat Lions were always in the game until the 15th over in second innings when Pollard and Rohit took the game away from them.
Find the entire quantitative summary here.
How it unfolded
Chasing a target of 177, Mumbai Indians lost Parthiv Patel early but Nitish Rana and Jos Buttler’s 85-run partnership put them well on course. With the departure of both batsmen in quick succession, things could have got a little tricky for the hosts but captain Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard’s 68-run stand completed an impressive win for MI. Earlier, Brendon McCullum’s 64 and Dinesh Karthik’s unbeaten 48 powered GL to 176/4. For MI, Mitchell McClenaghan took two wickets.
Where the game was won
The 68 run stand between Pollard and Rohit, which began in the 11th over until the 18th over turned out to be the key partnership that sealed the deal for Mumbai Indians. As can be seen from the graph (see the graph here), the win probability of Gujarat Lions steadily decreased from the 13th over.
What this means for the tournament
The win put Mumbai Indians at the top of the table, while putting the Lions in a tough spot.