Synopsis: Tilak Varma’s maiden IPL century rescues MI after Rabada’s Powerplay heroics before bowlers, led by Ashwani Kumar, guide them to a huge win that snaps their losing streak
Stung by Kagiso Rabada, reeling at 46 for 3 after the Powerplay and staring down the barrel of a fifth successive defeat that would have left major question marks hanging over the rest of their season, Mumbai Indians needed a special individual display to drag them out of their funk on Monday. Tilak Varma stood and delivered.
The 23-year-old went from struggling to middling to phenomenal in an innings that may well have turned around his team’s campaign. He hit a maiden IPL hundred with a huge late surge – going from 17 off 20 balls to finish on an unbeaten 101 from 46 – to rescue his side and lead them to a 99-run win over the Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.
Questions over squad balance may linger for both teams – Mumbai’s lack of clarity on their best XI and Gujarat’s over-reliance on a select few – but Monday’s victory was a much-needed reprieve for the five-time champions.
When asked after the game whether it would be the trigger to turn around their season after they entered the fixture in last position, Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya replied succinctly: “Yes.”
Stellar Rabada spell
This IPL, traditional skills like pure pace and Test-match length have proven to be an effective antidote to batting sides trying to make the best of the Powerplay, as proven by the likes of Josh Hazlewood and Jofra Archer. Rabada followed the same template on Monday.
The South African took a wicket each in his first three overs, all in the Powerplay. Each of those came from the top-of-off-stump line and length, and each of the wicket-taking deliveries were touching 150kmph. Debutant Danish Malewar was plumb leg-before, Quinton de Kock was caught off guard by a fiery short one, and Suryakumar Yadav lost his stumps to the pick of the bunch.
The India captain had tonked Rabada for a six and a four earlier in the over, but the South African came back with something special: a scorcher that landed seam-up around off-stump and nipped back into the right-hander. It was the kind of delivery that tests a batter’s ability to navigate world-class bowling, from his balance to his footwork. Surya, flat-footed deep in his crease, saw the ball going clean through his half-baked drive and front pad.
Rabada’s figures of 3/33 in four overs likely don’t do justice to how well he bowled, especially his last, the 16th, when he conceded just four runs. What happened around him, however, left his side vulnerable despite his stellar spell.
Tilak’s rescue act
Despite Naman Dhir and Tilak stabilising proceedings after the Powerplay, Mumbai looked lost for answers after being shocked at the start. Tilak has often spoken about his preference to drop anchor, even if modern T20s necessitates aggression from the start. His first 20 balls had a few mishits. But there was intention behind his sluggishness, and the strategy that was looking fatal at one point turned on an instant.
Rabada was duly supported by Mohammed Siraj in the Powerplay, but with the pair splitting the first six, skipper Shubman Gill couldn’t turn to them in the middle overs at all. And while Rashid Khan came up with a tight spell, Tilak was able to exploit the chasm between Gujarat’s world-class bowlers and their untested crop. He could time his late surge thanks to Gill’s predictable rotation of bowlers.