Mumbai, May 5 : Rohit Sharma (84) made a gratifying return from an injury-enforced layoff and Ryan Rickelton (83) gave another account of his hitting prowess as Mumbai Indians crushed Lucknow Super Giants by six wickets in their Indian Premier League match here on Monday.
Openers Rohit and Rickelton put on their third century partnership in the IPL — this time 143 runs — and laid the foundation for the much-needed win. MI overhauled LSG’s 228/5 with 229/4 in 18.4 overs.
The win swelled MI’s tally to six from 10 matches and stayed afloat in the IPL but LSG, who have just 4 points from 9 matches to be placed 10th, are now dangerously close to getting knocked out of the race to playoffs.
After Nicholas Pooran made the most of some ordinary bowling from MI with a 21-ball 63, Rohit and Rickelton made merry during their 65-ball stand.
The former Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit had missed five matches due to a hamstring injury which he sustained while batting against Royal Challengers Bengaluru here on April 12.
But the 39-year-old showed no discomfort while clobbering seven sixes and six fours during his 44-ball knock, and Rickelton continued his rich vein of form with commanding stroke play around the park.
But Rickelton fell to Mohsin Khan in the 11th over, playing one straight to cover after a two towering sixes previously.
Rohit looked set for his third IPL ton but he top-edged impact sub Manimaran Siddharth (2/47) to be caught at short fine leg in the 14th over.
Tilak Varma (11) failed to make a dent, while MI stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav (12) was once again caught near the ropes, instilling some nerves in the hosts.
But Naman Dhir (23 not out) and Will Jacks (10 not out) completed the task.
In the Power Play, MI weren’t off to a flier but 50 odd runs came off in first five overs. The hosts found the launchpad in the sixth when Avesh Khan was pulverised for 21 runs by Rohit.
The LSG seamer constantly missed his lengths and Rohit followed a couple of fours with as many sixes.
Rickelton, who began with a six off Mohsin over deep square leg, lit up the chase with compelling shot-making against pace and spin alike.
Earlier, Lucknow Super Giants rode on a whirlwind 20-ball 63 from Pooran to survive a mid-inning slowdown and post a par 228 for five.
Pooran cashed in on poor line and lengths from MI bowlers to pepper the on-side with eight sixes and a four in his minute-a-mile knock, which gave LSG the impetus along with Mitchell Marsh’s 44 (25 balls; 4x4s, 3x6s) at the top.
While Jasprit Bumrah (0/45) remained wicketless and overstepped thrice, Corbin Bosch (2/20) applied the brakes on LSG’s charge in the middle-overs as they looked set for a total in excess of 240 at one stage.
Perhaps, jaded after months of T20 cricket, an off-colour Bumrah not only missed nailing his yorkers twice but also overstepped on one and Marsh smacked fours on both the occasions.
As many as 21 runs came off the fourth over from Bumrah and there was further misery in store for MI in the powerplay.
Will Jacks fed Pooran with deliveries in his zone and the former West Indies skipper obliged with three massive sixes to race to 22 off eight from 3 off three.
Pooran then tore into AM Ghazanfar, clobbering two sixes and a four off the sixth over to fire LSG to 90 for one in the powerplay, which is now the joint second-highest score in that phase for any visiting side against Mumbai Indians here.
Pooran had gone without a half-century for 17 innings but he was certainly aided by MI’s poor execution. He completed his 16-ball fifty with a six off Chahar in the eighth over and hit one more.
Pooran and Marsh put on 94 for the second wicket off only 35 balls and at 123 for one after eight overs, LSG had the game firmly in their control.
But Bosch derailed LSG’s charge with a double-wicket over in which he dismissed both Pooran and Marsh.
From 123/1, LSG slipped to 160/4 after 12 overs and it might have been 160/5 had Bumrah not overstepped when he had Himmat Singh (40 not out) caught behind. Himmat did well to put on 68 runs unbeaten with Aiden Markram (31 not out).
