IPL 2023: Suryakumar Yadav dazzles with the knock of a lifetime as MI flex their muscles against GT

Mumbai Indians (MI) produced a complete performance against the Gujarat Titans on Friday to assert themselves not only as a strong favourite for the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs, but even for an unprecedented sixth crown.

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MI have had a mixed run so far this season, starting off on a familiar rocky note before picking up pace in the middle stages. While the five-time champions continue to be challenged, especially on the bowling front in the absence of pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, their batting has more than made up for their shortcomings in the other departments and ensured they remain in the hunt for a top four finish.

On Friday however, MI dished out what was perhaps their most clinical performance of the season so far, one that was reminiscent of the Mumbai Indians of the old that used to collect trophies for fun and had established itself as one of the most dominant teams in the T20 format. It wasn’t just with the bat that they had delivered the goods, their bowling unit also came to the party for a change.

SKY shines bright at Wankhede

The toast of their performance however, was the one and only Suryakumar Yadav. SKY had been going through a lean patch earlier this year, recording a hat-trick of golden ducks during the one-day series against Australia and carried that poor form over to the IPL, where he struggled in the initial season. The 31-year-old however, has been a different beast since regaining his form with a 25-ball 43 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Wankhede last month.

On Friday, however, SKY produced what not only was his best performance with the bat this season, but what surely will go down as one of the greatest knocks in the history of the world’s biggest T20 league.

Read | SKY’s confidence rubs off on guys, says MI skipper Rohit

Mumbai got off to a much better start after being invited to bat by Gujarat, with skipper Rohit Sharma showing a lot more intent and attempting to shake off his poor run with the bat in recent games. The ‘Hitman’ stitched a 61-run opening stand with Ishan Kishan, the pair scoring at over 10-an-over during the fielding restrictions.

A quick three-wicket burst by star leg-spinner Rashid Khan, two of which came in the same over right after powerplay that resulted in the dismissals of Rohit and Kishan, threatened to derail the soldi start. MI had collected 96 runs at the halfway stage, but were at a stage where a slowdown or another flurry of wickets would effectively cost them the game.

Thankfully for the home team, Surya found ideal support from Vishnu Vinod, who made his first appearance of the season and gave Mumbai another solid option in the middle order with a 20-ball 30, stitching a 65-run fourth-wicket stand.

Vishnu’s presence had allowed SKY to settle at the crease and produce the odd four or six to keep MI in the hunt for a total in the range of 200, and he was batting on 47 off 31 balls by the time Vishnu departed off the final ball of the 16th over. He would, however, save his very best for the slog overs; while he needed 32 balls to bring up his half-century, he would score his next fifty in just 17 deliveries, tearing the pace trio of Mohit Sharma, Mohammed Shami and Alzarri Joseph to ensure MI finished close to 220 in the end.

How do you hit a cover drive but get it over third man for six?

We watched SKY do it here and still can’t understand. What about you?