As expected Mumbai Indians won the toss and opted to field first. Visitors Gujarat Lions came out to bat and their big international stars walked out to the centre Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith. Dwayne Smith departed early in the piece. McCullum and Raina then held fort and steadies the innings and got a partnership going. McCullum started cutting loose and got going, only the way he can. Raina departed when the score was 81 and he had scored 28 off 29, but Raina’s innings never got going. In-form McCullum fell soon for a breathtaking 64 off 44 balls. Raina fell to Harbhajan Singh, old memories may have got rekindled. But it was Dinesh Karthik who really stepped it up and attacked. He took on the bowlers and hit them to all parts. Lasith Malinga was expensive giving away 39 off 3 overs, you rarely see Malinga being so expensive. But yes, Malinga got the wicket of the dangerous McCullum.
Young Ishan Kishan never got going and you could feel that he is still finding his feet with the big boys. He scored 11 off 14 balls. Surprisingly Jason Roy who is a natural opener came out to bat after four wickets fell, a touch too late one feels. He only had two overs to bat. Malinga went for 51 off 4 overs. McClenaghan was the pick of the MI bowlers he gave away 24 runs in 4 overs and picked up 2 wickets.
It is sad Ravindra Jadeja did not even get to bat, but with the ball he has a big role to play.
