Mumbai Indians beat Gujarat Titans by 99 runs
Tilak Varma roared back to form with a magnificent maiden century in the Indian Premier League, helping the Mumbai Indians break their four-match losing streak with a 99-run mauling of the Gujarat Titans here on Monday.
Tilak remained not out on 101 off 45 balls, reaching the milestone with a boundary off the innings' last ball to lift MI to 199 for five after a forgettable start.
In reply, GT were bowled out for 100 in 15.5 overs, with left-arm seamer Ashwani Kumar returning excellent figures of 4/24 in four overs.
None of the GT batters could make any contribution of note.
Varma played the best knock of his career, smashing his maiden IPL hundred to take Mumbai Indians to 199/5 and gain some breathing space against Gujarat Titans here on Monday.
Tilak (101 not out in 45 balls) did the unthinkable, scoring an incredible 81 runs off 23 balls to give the total respectability, which looked improbable after the powerplay thanks to an intimidating first spell by Kagiso Rabada.
At the strategic time-out post 14th over, TV cameras caught skipper Pandya animatedly telling something to Tilak, who had scratched around to reach 19 off 22 balls and was occasionally booed by the Motera crowd.
But after that break, one saw the Tilak that one has always known as he threw the kitchen sink at GT's fastest bowlers. Prasidh Krishna went for 19, and new pace sensation Ashok Sharma was toyed with for 26 runs.
Before Monday's innings, Tilak's poor form was one of the talking points as he managed only 43 in the previous five outings. In all, he hit eight fours and seven sixes on the day, with a few over covers and some hit down the ground.
Pandya (15 off 16 balls) did push Tilak but hardly did anything of note himself in their 81-run standoff only 38 balls. The last six overs yielded 96 runs, largely due to the ever-inconsistent Prasidh Krishna (1/54 in 4 overs), who gave away 41 in his final two overs.
This was after Rabada (3/33 in 4 overs) got the ball to seam at a quick clip as he blew the top-order away inside powerplay to ensure that it will be another day of below par total for the five-time champions who had been looking completely out of sorts.
Rabada, rated as one of the legends of his generation alongside Pat Cummins, Jasprit Bumrah and Josh Hazlewood, bowled the 'Test match length', faster, fuller and attacked the stumps to get three wickets.
Danish Malewar (2) understood the gulf between domestic and world class bowling as he couldn't get his bat down on time as Rabada rapped him on the pads plumb in front. Quinton de Kock (13 off 11 balls) played a rasping square cut when Rabada gave him width but a short ball saw him balloon a pull shot, which the bowler collected gleefully.
The best dismissal certainly was the one where he set up out-of-form India T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav (15 off 10 balls). Surya had clipped Rabada for a six into the cow corner and straight drove him for a boundary.
Rabada came back with a banger -- a 152 kmph delivery pitched up on fourth stump line that cut back sharply. There was no visible footwork and the bat was away from the body as it breached through the defence to peg the stump back.
Naman Dhir, who scored a fifty in the last game, resurrected the innings. He used Ashok Sharma's pace to get a couple of boundaries and kept pushing the scoreboard, although he never dominated the attack.
It was only post the strategic break that Tilak suddenly changed gears and played the most memorable knock of his IPL career. It was the fastest hundred for Mumbai Indians in the history of the tournament.
