Muristek
Mumbai, April 16
Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul made batting look like a walk in the park with a 56-ball century in his 100th IPL game to put five-time champions Mumbai Indians all but out of the league with an 18-run win today.
Rahul's unbeaten 60-ball 103, his third three-figure score in the IPL, propelled Lucknow to a commanding score of 199/4. And then his bowlers joined the party to restrict MI to 181/9.
With six consecutive defeats, Mumbai's tournament is as good as over even before league has reached the halfway stage.
If I know what's going wrong, I'd correct it but it's not coming off. But I do take responsibility. I will look to use my experience and we hope to come back again as a team. —Rohit Sharma, MI Captain
We have played well, we need to be humble and keep learning. The team is brilliant and I enjoy spending time with them, creating a team that was comfortable was something we looked for in the auction. —KL Rahul, LSG Captain
Rohit Sharma's (6) nightmare of a tournament continued while Ishan Kishan (13 off 17 balls) is certainly feeling the pressure of the Rs 15.25 crore price tag as he played on a Marcus Stoinis delivery and displayed his frustration by smashing the foam-based boundary rope.
In between, Dewald Brevis (31 off 13 balls) hit some breathtaking shots before another find of the season, NT Tilak Varma (26 off 26 balls), and the dependable Suryakumar Yadav (37 off 27 balls) added 64 runs to resurrect the innings.
Once Jason Holder dismissed Tilak with a yorker, the contest was over. Yadav did not get the required support from the other batters, although Kieron Pollard (25 off 14 balls) threw his bat around in a losing cause.
Yadav's dismissal, after he failed to dispatch a Ravi Bishnoi delivery, was the final nail in the MI coffin.
Lucknow's fast bowlers Avesh Khan (3/30) and Dushmantha Chameera (1/48) got good support from medium-pacers Holder (1/34) and Stoinis (1/13).
Lucknow have four wins from six games, while MI have lost a dozen games on the trot for the first time in the IPL's 15 editions.
Earlier, Rahul added 52 runs for the opening stand with Quinton de Kock (24 off 13 balls), 72 with Manish Pandey (38 off 29 balls) and another brisk 43 with Deepak Hooda (15 off 8 balls).
Brief scores: Lucknow Super Giants: 199/4 (Rahul 103*, Pandey 38; Unadkat 2/32); Mumbai Indians: 181/9 (Suryakumar 37; Avesh 3/30). —