IPL 2017, GL vs MI: Jasprit Bumrah’s fantastic Super Over wins the day for the Mumbai Indians

In a thrilling contest that was eventually decided by a Super Over, Mumbai Indians (MI) beat Gujarat Lions (GL) by 5 runs at Rajkot on Saturday. Chasing a below par total of 154, Parthiv Patel (70) gave Mumbai Indians a flying start, but Gujarat Lions came back into the game thanks to some excellent bowling and fielding. After the regulation overs were bowled, the two sides were tied and it took an outstanding Super Over by Jasprit Bumrah to win the match for Mumbai.

Here’s a look at some of the most interesting moments of this game:

Ishan Kishan and that pull

Ishan had shown enough in his cameos earlier in IPL 10 to suggest that he has the quality to mix it with the best. But sometimes, a single shot can tell you all you need to know about the batsmen. In Ishan’s case that shot may be the pull shot he hit for a six off the first ball off Mitchell McClenaghan’s second over. It wasn’t a bad ball, it wasn’t particularly short either. But Ishan seemed to be expecting it. He moved into position, picked it of the off-stump and launched it over the square leg boundary. He smashed the next two balls for four too. But this six was something special. He ended up top-scoring for Gujarat with 48 off 35 balls.

Gujarat’s strange start

With Ishan smashing everything in his zone, Gujarat were off to a quick start. But then Mumbai changed things around thanks to wickets, Malinga and Harbhajan Singh. To see just how strange the start was, look at the numbers: first 4 overs - 46/1. Next 4 overs - 9/2. This was probably the moment, Gujarat lost it. Instead of keeping the momentum going, with sensible batting — their senior batsmen threw it away.

The big flop

The big four in the Gujarat line-up let their side down badly. McCullum made 6, Raina 1, Finch 0, Karthik 2. In the end, it was a miracle that even managed to get their total past 150. McCullum and Finch were dismissed without ever getting set, Raina popped a dolly and Karthik was stumped down the leg-side. Given that Ishan was batting pretty well at the other end, they really needed to support the youngster.

Parthiv’s knock

Patel has, for years, been a consistent batsman in Ranji Trophy cricket. So much so, that if he so desires he could probably get into teams on the strength of his batting alone. But against Gujarat, he gave us another glimpse of just why he is so highly regarded. His innings of 70 off 44 balls included 9 fours and a six. While he was there, MI were cruising to victory.

The 14th over from Faulkner

This is where things started to change. MI needed 50 runs off 42 balls with 8 wickets in hand. Parthiv Patel was batting well and Rohit was starting to find his way back into form. Then Faulkner sent back Sharma with his first ball, saw Pollard getting dropped off the fourth ball and then claimed Patel’s wicket off the fifth ball. Suddenly, Gujarat believed.

Hit the stumps

Every time Gujarat were in trouble, they fell back on their fielding. Mumbai got off to a good start (43-0 after 3.5) and that’s when Faulkner ran out Jos Buttler with a direct hit. Then again, with the match on the line — McClenaghan was run out by Pathan, Bumrah by Jadeja and as Krunal Pandya ran for a single off the last ball of the innings... a single that would have won them the game, Jadeja hit the bullseye again. 4 run outs — all stunning efforts in the field.

A super ‘Super Over’

NB 1LB WD 0 B 0 1 1. When you start the Super Over with a no-ball, follow it up with a leg-bye and then a wide — you usually have dug a hole for yourself. But then, the 23-year-old Jasprit Bumrah showed just how good he really is. Faulkner had conceded just 11 runs in his Super Over but a lovely combination of slower balls, yorkers and low full tosses saw the fast bowler win the day for MI. More importantly, he did this against batsmen like Finch and McCullum. This man is the death over specialist India has been looking for.