Tilak’s maiden ton, Ashwani’s 4-for script their 99-run win over GT
Ahmedabad: Tilak Varma played a knock for the ages as his maiden IPL century turned the corner for Mumbai Indians with the five-time champions crushing Gujarat Titans by 99 runs here on Monday.
Spurred by skipper Hardik Pandya’s ‘hard talk’ asking him to get a move-on during the strategic break after he scratched his way to 19 off 22 balls, Tilak changed gears in a flash to amass 82 off the next 23 deliveries and end on an unbeaten 101 off 45 balls.
Mumbai Indians’ 199 for 5 was good enough as Jasprit Bumrah broke his wicket-less streak for five matches with a first-ball dismissal of Sai Sudharsan and GT never recovered from there to get all out for 100 in 15.5 overs. The introduction of left-arm seamer Ashwani Kumar proved to be decisive as he snared 4 for 24 to run through the middle-order along with Mitchell Santner (2/16 in 3 overs).
Earlier, Kagiso Rabada (3/33) rattled MI’s top-order with a fiery spell. However, Varma’s late onslaught, which included eight fours and seven sixes, turned the tide, with 96 runs coming in the last six overs.
The win, after four straight defeats, took Mumbai Indians to seventh place in the points table, but more importantly, it improved their net run rate significantly (+0.067).
