MI put us into bat
Mumbai Indians skipper won the toss and had no hesitation to bowl first. We made one change from our last line-up as Ankit Rajpoot replaced Piyush Chawla. Lasith Malinga made his way from Sri Lanka and was included in the starting line-up straightaway.

The openers started aggressively as they raced away to 44 in 4 overs. While Gambhir found boundaries playing shots on the ground, Lynn played his natural shots. But it was the introduction of Krunal Pandya which worked in favour of the home side. Gambhir tried to lift a sweep over square-leg but was caught by a jumping McClenaghan. Pandya struck in the same over as Robin Uthappa chipped one to deep mid-wicket. At the end of Powerplay, we were 59/2 with Lynn still there at the crease. As the partnership was just increasing, Bumrah struck at the right time to dismiss Lynn. At the end of 10 overs, we were 79/3 with Pandey and Pathan at the crease.

Time to rebuild
But as another partnership was building, the home side struck again when Yusuf Pathan mis-timed his big shot to long off. But then arrived the home boy, Suryakumar Yadav and settled the nerves with some good looking shots. The duo picked up gaps at ease as the ball ran quickly on the fast outfield. But then again we lost a wicket at the wrong time which hampered the momentum. Suryakumar Yadav and Chris Woakes departed in the space of 3 overs as Pandey reached his 50. In the last two overs, Pandey started expressing himself as he cleared the boundary with ease. As many as 34 runs came in those two overs which did a major momentum shift in our favour. We lost Narine on the last ball of the innings and ended at 178/7.

 

Quick wickets make things interesting
The duo of Trent Boult and Chris Woakes were able to swing the ball under lights but could not get any wickets. While Parthiv struggled to time the ball, Buttler cleared the circle with ease. The MI duo reached to 50 in the 7th over but Kuldeep Yadav, once again provided the breakthrough for us. Parthiv Patel returned to the pavilion and we struck again in the next over as Ankit Rajpoot removed the well-settled Jos Buttler for 28. Even as the home side was recovering from this double blow, Narine removed the Mumbai captain, Rohit Sharma, to make things difficult for the home team. At the end of 10 overs, MI were 74/3.

 

 

Mumbai suffered another dent when they lost Krunal Pandya in the 12th over. Slowly the target was getting away from them as at one point they required 72 off 7 overs. Our bowlers stuck to the task as the asking run rate kept ncreasing. Mumbai Indians suffered a huge blow when Kieron Pollard top-edged one directly to third man. But then arrived Pandya and alongwith Rana took the game away from us. Rana played a match-winning knock of 50 in just 29 balls . In the end, MI won the game off the second last ball of the game. Hardik Pandya remained unbeaten on 29  ‘It's just a matter of keeping our nerves calm. We panicked a little in the end with the misfield and the dropped catch', said Gautam Gambhir after the defeat.

 

But it was a night where Manish Pandey showed his class. His partnership with Suryakumar Yadav was essential for us to post a challenging total. Trent Boult and Chris Woakes had better control compared to the first match. Sunil Narine got his rhythm back and Ankit Rajpoot impressed with his pace. Things can only get better from here!