MULLANPUR: Rohit Sharma rode his luck to make a stroke-filled 81 after Jonny Bairstow made instant impact on his Mumbai Indians debut, propelling the five-time champions to a daunting 228/5 against a sloppy Gujarat Titans in the IPL Eliminator here on Friday.
On a surface which had less grass compared to the one used on Thursday, Mumbai Indians decided to bat first and the batters ensured the team goes into the break with an upper-hand.
Titans dropped three crucial catches — two of Rohit (81 off 50) and one of Suryakumar Yadav (33 off 20) and produced another ordinary effort with the ball in the knock-out fixture.
Rohit was dropped twice in the powerplay before veteran made the opposition pay dearly for their on-field errors.
On the first occasion, Gerald Coetzee dropped him in the deep and Kusal Mendis’ GT debut went all awry when he bungled a regulation take behind stumps off Mohammed Siraj.
It was Bairstow (47 off 22), who gave Mumbai Indians the momentum in the powerplay with some sublime hitting.
The out of favour England batter, who joined the mighty Mumbai Indians days after collecting back-to-back fifties in county cricket for Yorkshire, took his chances early on and was well rewarded.
He targeted Titans’ best pacer of the season, Prasidh Krishna, plundering him for 26 runs in the fourth over of the innings that included three sixes.
The first hit was a pull that comfortably sailed over square leg fence before picking the pacer for a clean hit down the ground.
Rohit too got into the act when spinner Sai Kishore was introduced inside the powerplay.
The former MI captain employed the sweep shot to perfection to collect two fours and a massive six to take his team to 79 for no loss in six overs, the team’s best powerplay of the season.
