5 memorable moments from Mumbai Indians vs Gujarat Lions that don't fade away

And the reigning champions are almost certainly out of their title defense as Gujarat Lions made a statement of intent with an emphatic win. The discordant form of Mumbai was always going to hurt them at some point and it came in the form of this loss against the newly included team.

After being asked to bat first, Mumbai Indians made a fantastic start with Nitish Rana leading the pack. However, a middle-order collapse meant that they couldn’t build on the platform that was created by the top order and they fumbled to a mediocre—according to the pitch—total of 172.

A Suresh Raina inspired Gujarat Lions, then, cruised to the total with utmost ease as they now find themselves at the top of the pack in the league round.

There were plenty of memorable moments in the match that don't fade away, quite like the Axe Signature range of body perfumes. Let's take a look:

---

Rohit Sharma’s fiery start

A 17 ball 30 from Rohit Sharma meant that Mumbai Indians got the ideal start that they desperately needed. Rohit Sharma has always been their star man and it is on the back of his form that Mumbai Indians have found so much glory.

However, despite getting a good start, he couldn’t convert it to a big one, like he almost always does for Mumbai Indians under crucial circumstances. Nevertheless, he provided a good start that build the perfect platform for his men to launch on.

Nitish Rana the revelation

Love or hate the Mumbai Indians, one can’t undermine their importance to Indian cricket in general. Last year, the breakthroughs of Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah helped the Indian team immensely as both of them starred in their Asia Cup glory.

And this year, it was Krunal Pandya and Nitish Rana that have been revealed to the world.

The former had a quiet game. The latter, however, was exceptional in conduct. Playing just 36 balls, he scored 70 runs to fire his team’s run-rate to a point where one would have definitely expected them to cross the 200 mark.

Brendon McCullum’s fine start

Measuring by his standards, the Kiwi has had an average tournament thus far in the IPL. The swashbuckling former Kolkata Knight Riders’ player could desecrate any bowling attacks at an instant, but has been suffering for consistency in this year’s IPL.

However, yesterday was one of those games where he showed his true colors.

Chasing a target of 173 was always going to be tricky if the run-rate wasn’t smooth and of a high rate. Therefore, he played a blazing innings of 48 while playing just 27 balls in the process, giving his team the perfect start.

Suresh Raina plays a captain’s knock

This is Suresh Raina’s first year as an IPL captain and he has done an incredible job thus far. His clever on-field decisions and street-smart bowling changes was one of the key reasons for Gujarat’s surge to the play-offs.

In the most crucial time of it all, he made sure that he didn’t leave his team-mates with a lot to do as he played a captain’s knock against the defending champions. Scoring 58 off just 36 balls, he gave his team the perfect boost to chase down the total with ease.

Dwayne Smith’s finish

Usually, he is the one providing the start. However, Suresh Raina decided to experiment by opening with Aaron Finch and playing the West Indian at number 5 instead.

After the first over of GL’s innings, one would have thought that the move backfired big time as the Australian was out for a duck. However, by the time Dwayne Smith was done with his batting, Suresh Raina had the last laugh.

The West Indian scored a quick-fire 37 off just 23 balls to race his team to the target with 13 balls to spare—sealing a place in the top 4 in the process.