Titans win despite quiet Rutherford

AHMEDABAD, India (AP):

OPENING BATTER Sai Sudharsan smashed 63 then the Gujarat Titans pace bowlers pinned down the Mumbai Indians to win their Indian Premier League contest by 36 runs yesterday.

Left-hander Sudharsan followed his 74 against Punjab Kings last Sunday to topscore again with a 41-ball knock in Gujarat’s challenging total of 196-8.

Mumbai were restricted to 160-6. Fast bowler Mohammad Siraj struck twice inside the batting power play when he bowled openers Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton but it was Prasidh Krishna who clinched the win when he stopped Mumbai’s revival by bagging Suryakumar Yadav (48) and Tilak Varma (39).

Gujarat earned their first points after losing a high-scoring opening game against Punjab by 11 runs.

Mumbai suffered a second straight loss after falling to Chennai Kings by four wickets last Sunday.

Fast bowler Mohammed Siraj conceded two boundaries in his first three deliveries to Sharma but he got the Mumbai opener with a delivery that nipped back sharply and kissed the bails.

Siraj then uprooted Rickelton’s off stump, bringing Yadav to the crease to join Varma. They shared 62 runs together.

FOUR SIXES

Yadav was the only Mumbai batter to look unrestrained as he hit four sixes over the leg side in his trademark style.

Fast bowler Krishna broke up the pair when he ended Varma’s 39-off-36 frustration. Varma slogged a slower ball to long-on where Rahul Tewatia took a running catch.

Yadav followed in the death overs, too, when he was beaten by another slower Krishna delivery and holed out at long-off. That completely derailed Mumbai’s chase.

Sudharsan and captain Shubman Gill (38) combined for Gujarat’s third best score of 66-0 in the power play. Gill fell to former Gujarat captain Hardik Pandya in the ninth over.

Jos Buttler (39) looked in fine touch with five boundaries and a six before he was undone by Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman’s carrom ball and was caught behind.

But Sudharsan kept going from the other end and raised his half-century off 33 balls before Gujarat suffered a mini-collapse and lost three wickets when the total was 179.

Trent Boult ignited the collapse when he trapped Sudharsan lbw through a searing leg-stump yorker, and Tewatia was run out without facing a ball when Pandya hit the wickets directly at the non-striker’s end from mid-off.

Sherfane Rutherford departed on the next ball for 18 when Mitchell Santner caught him at deep extra cover. Rashid Khan and Kagiso Rabada hit a six each and gave Gujarat enough runs on the board to defend.