IPL 9: Nitish Rana blitz powers Mumbai to 172/8

70 Runs scored by Mumbai Indians batsman Nitish Rana off 36 balls against Gujarat Lions. He smashed seven fours and four sixes in his innings.

Delhi youngster Nitish Rana played the most eventful innings of his nascent career as his scintillating 70 enabled Mumbai Indians post a competitive 172/8 against Gujarat Lions in the 14th and final round IPL group league encounter between the two teams.

Left-handed Rana blasted the Lions attack to hit seven fours and four sixes in only 36 balls. There were useful contributions from skipper Rohit Sharma (30 off 17 balls), Jos Buttler (33 off 31 balls) at the top of the order.

In fact after Rohit’s brief onslaught initially, it was Rana-Buttler combination that added 75 runs in 8.5 overs to lay the foundation for a decent total.

For Lions, Dwayne Bravo was the best bowler on view with figures of 2/23 in 4 overs with 10 dot balls to his credit. Praveen Kumar (2/24 in 4 overs) was also impressive.

Mumbai Indians did lose momentum after Rana’s dismissal as the last three overs produced only 19 runs and they lost four wickets in the bargain. Hardik Pandya (7, 8 balls) wasted precious deliveries at the end.

The MI innings was all about young Rana’s coming of age in his first season of IPL cricket (he was in MI squad last year but did not get a chance) and showing that he is one of the cleanest hitters among emerging T20 players in the country.

Having made a name for himself with his six-hitting prowess for Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Ali national T20 meet, Rana finally showed what he is capable of with his muscular shots predominantly on the leg-side.

With fetish for pulling anything short, Rana started by pulling Dhawal Kulkarni towards square leg and then played a few singles.

His first release shot was a a slog sweep as he dragged a Ravindra Jadeja delivery over long-on for his first six.

He then muscled Dwayne Smith over ‘Cow Corner’ for his second six. The third six was another slow sweep this time off Shadab Jakati while fourth was off Kulkarni over mid-wicket.

He treated the spinners especially Jakati with a lot of contempt hitting him for three boundaries in an over including one which brought up his maiden IPL 50 off only 28 balls.

He was finally dismissed when he failed to clear the deep square fielder Kulkarni off a Bravo slower one.

Scoreboard Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma c Jakati b Kulkarni 30, M. Guptill c Bravo b Smith 7, N. Rana c Kulkarni b Bravo 70, K. Pandya c Finch b Smith 4, J. Buttler c & b Bravo 33, K. Pollard c Smith b Kulkarni 9, H. Pandya c Jadeja b Kumar 7, Harbhajan Singh c Raina b Kumar 3, R. Vinay Kumar (not out) 1. Extras: (lb 3, w 4, nb 1) 8. Total: (for 8 wkts, in 20 overs) 172. FoW: 1-33, 2-41, 3-45, 4-120, 5-153, 6-160, 7-166, 8-172. Bowling: Kumar 4-0-24-2, Kulkarni 4-0-41-2, Smith 4-0-37-2 (1nb, 2w), Jakati 3-0-30-0, Bravo 4-0-22-2 (2w), Jadeja 1-0-15-0.