IPL: Gujarat Lions Outclass Mumbai Indians To Qualify For Playoffs

Leading from the front, skipper Suresh Raina (58) smashed a crucial half-century to guide Gujarat Lions to a six wicket win over Mumbai Indians in an all important Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Saturday.

With this win, Gujarat have moved to top of points table with 18 points from 14 games and have qualified for playoffs.

Batting first, riding on Nitish Rana's 36-ball 70, Mumbai posted 172/8 in 20 overs.

In reply, Gujarat displayed an all-round show with the bat as they chased down the target with 13 balls to spare.

With this loss, Mumbai have dropped to sixth spot and have 14 points from 14 games and are all but knocked out of the playoff race.

Chasing a challenging target of 172, Gujarat got off to a poor start losing opener Aaron Finch (0) on the very second ball of the innings.

But his opening partner Brendon McCullum (48) and Raina played well, sneaking in with ones, twos, and boundaries to take team past 90-run mark in eighth over itself.

The 96-run partnership for the second wicket came to an end in the 10th over when Harbhajan Singh dismissed McCullum.

But Raina played his natural game to put pressure on the opposition and brought up his half-century in 30 balls.

Dinesh Karthik (3) too fell cheaply. But Dwayne Smith (37 not out) along with Raina made sure the team came close to victory line.

Raina, who was looking to finish the game for his team, was dismissed in the 13th over but his team was well on course to victory line with 120-plus score.

In the end overs of the match, Smith and Ravindra Jadeja (21 not out) held together to take Gujarat over the line. For Mumbai, R. Vinay Kumar (2-17) was the pick of their bowlers.

Earlier after being put into bat, skipper Rohit Sharma (30) got the defending champions off to a good start in the first three overs. But Dhawal Kulkarni got the much needed breakthrough in the fourth over dismissing Rohit, to have Mumbai at 33/1.

His opening partner Martin Guptill (7) too fell cheaply followed by Krunal Pandya (4) without troubling the opposition bowlers much. With three quick wickets, Mumbai were struggling at 45/3 inside the powerplay.

But incoming batsmen Nitish Rana and Jos Buttler (33) held their nerves and played sensibly without losing any more wickets to take the team past the 100-run mark inside 13 overs.

The duo shared a crucial 75-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Buttler was dismissed by a superb caught and bowled by the West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo.

Mumbai were 120/4 in the 14th over then.

Despite the wicket of Buttler, Rana played his natural game with Kieron Pollard (9) at the other end.

Rana's impressive innings came to an end in the 17th over with Bravo dismissing the left-handed batsman. But by then Mumbai were over the 150-run mark.

En route his maiden IPL half-century, the young left-handed batsman struck seven boundaries and four sixes with a strike rate of over 194.

Pollard too headed back to the pavilion in the 18th over to help Gujarat make a comeback into the game in the death overs.

Dwayne Bravo (2-22), Praveen Kumar (2-24), Dwayne Smith (2-37) and Dhawal Kulkarni (2-41) were the pick of the bowlers for Gujarat Lions.