Mumbai’s most consistent batsman Rana scored 193 runs, highest so far in the tournament.
MI batsman Nitish Rana (Photo: AFP)
Rising on a 53-run knock by Nitish Rana, Mumbai Indians beat Gujarat Lions by six wickets to register their fourth consecutive victory in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
With this, Mumbai’s most consistent batsman Rana scored 193 runs, highest so far in the tournament, to clinch the orange cap.
While chasing a competitive target of 177 runs, Mumbai started with a slump as opener Parthiv Patel (0) lost his wicket on the first ball of the innings.
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Jos Buttler and Kieron Pollard pushed Mumbai close to the target with scoring 26 and 36 runs respectively.
However, it was Rana’s 36-ball 53 runs that helped Mumbai the most. He smashed two sixes and four boundaries in his illustrious innings.
Captain Rohit Sharma (40) and pinch-hitter Hardik Pandya (6) remained unbeaten in the end when Mumbai posted a thumping win.
For Gujarat, Andrew Tye claimed two wickets, while speedsters Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel chipped in by dismissing Patel and Buttler respectively.
Earlier, veteran hitter Brendon McCullum smashed 64 runs off 44 balls to push Gujarat Lions to a strong total of 176/4 against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
After losing the toss in the 16th match of the IPL 2017, Gujarat started hesitantly and lost their opener Dwayne Smith for duck.
Captain Suresh Raina managed to contribute 28 runs with the help of two boundaries.
Raina and McCullum established an 80-run partnership for the second-wicket.
Following the dismissal of top-order, wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik gave Gujarat stability at middle-order.
Karthik scored 48 runs (not out) at an impressive strike rate of 184.61. He hit two sixes and two boundaries to excite the Wankhede spectators.
English batsman Jason Roy, who came to play down the order this time, contributed with 14 runs (not out).
For Mumbai, pacer Mitchell McClenaghan was the biggest charm in their bowling attack as he dismissed Smith and Ishan Kishan (11) to claim two wickets.
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