Surya century downs Gujarat, lifts Mumbai into third

Suryakumar Yadav lit up the Mumbai sky on Friday night at the Wankhede Stadium, lifting the five-time champions to a comfortable 27-run victory over Gujarat with his maiden IPL century. The right-hander smashed 11 fours and six sixes on his way to a majestic unbeaten 103* off 49 deliveries, powering the Mumbai Indians to 218 for 5. Rashid Khan clubbed his career-best T20 score of 79* off 32 balls in response, but Mumbai’s exploits with the new ball ensured they cruised to a comfortable victory in front of their home support.

Batting dominance continued on a flat surface at the Wankhede Stadium, and the Mumbai openers gave the team another swift start after being sent in by Hardik Pandya. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan carted Mohammed Shami for 22 runs in his opening spell and took on every Gujarat bowler, helping Mumbai to 66 runs in the powerplay.

Rashid Khan hit back by removing both openers and Nehal Wadhera in his next two overs, restricting Mumbai to 88 for 3. However, Suryakumar Yadav and Vishnu Vinod stabilised the innings and kept the runs flowing through the middle. Surya mixed caution with some timely boundaries early on, cantering to a 32-ball half-century, before exploding at the back half to power Mumbai to a winning total.

The number three smashed 50 runs off his final 15 deliveries, carting the bowlers to all parts of the ground on his way to a maiden ton. Surya took 20 runs off Mohit Sharma in the 18th over and also clobbered Alzarri Joseph and Mohammed Shami with disdain at the death, getting to his three-figure score with a six off the final ball of the innings, taking Mumbai to 218 for 5.

In reply, Gujarat crumbled against the new ball to start the run chase. Akash Madhwal removed both openers, Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill, inside the powerplay, while Jason Behrendorff nicked off Hardik Pandya to leave the Titans reeling at 26 for 3 in four overs. Vijay Shankar and David Miller staged a brief recovery for the visitors, but the Mumbai spinners dominated through the middle as Piyush Chawla and Kumar Kartikeya picked up two wickets each, reducing Gujarat to 103 for 8.

The hosts were on course to receive a major boost to their net run rate to go along with the win, but Rashid Khan had other plans. The all-rounder slammed a sensational 79* off 32 deliveries, creaming ten sixes to take Gujarat to 191 for 8, reducing Gujarat’s margin of defeat to just 27 runs.