Tilak Varma slams maiden IPL century to set up Mumbai’s thumping 99-run win over Gujarat

Bottom placed Mumbai Indians leaped to the seventh spot thanks to a 99-run victory over Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Monday night. The architect for Mumbai Indians’ spectacular turnaround was Tilak Varma, who smashed his maiden IPL century.

When Mumbai began their innings, no one gave them a chance against Gujarat. The first half of the innings went according to the script as Mumbai lost three wickets with just 44 on the board before the powerplay was over. Kagiso Rabada was all over Mumbai Indians.

Danish Malewar (2) was the first to go as he was trapped leg before by Kagiso Rabada. An over later, Rabada caught and bowled Quinton de Kock (13) and in the next over, the South African pacer bowled Suryakumar Yadav (15) to leave the visitors reeling.

The whole season, Mumbai have been struggling and seeing them struggle yet again was not astonishing. But what was astonishing was the way they clawed back into the game and all the credit is due to Hyderabadi batter Tilak Varma.

First 100 is always special: Tilak

“Of course, the first 100 will be always special. It was very important for us. We don’t have much time from here. Every game is important for us. Last five games I haven’t had much time in the middle. So, this game I wanted to spend time in the middle. So, you saw first 20 balls I was just batting ball by ball. And then later on I knew the ability I have. I was just seeing the situation and what the team needs, and I was just stable and keeping my head still and following my basics. I have all the fancy shots. But when the team is under pressure it’s just about backing your skills and today it’s given me good results. [Partnership with Dhir] It was very important. The way Naman played with positive intent, credit goes to him,” Tilak said after the game.

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Tilak Varma, who came to bat at No.5, began slowly as Naman Dhir took upon himself the task of keeping the scoreboard moving. Dhir and Varma added 52 off 40 balls for the fourth wicket with Dhir doing the bulk of the scoring. He contributed 34 off 22 balls while Tilak labored to 16 off 18.

Rabada again had a hand in a Mumbai dismissal as he caught Dhir (45; 32 balls, 6×4, 1×6) off Prasidh Krishna. Thereafter, it turned out to be a one-man show as Tilak turned the spotlight firmly on to himself.

Tilak changed gears effortlessly

Skipper Hardik Pandya joined Tilak and the latter changed gears effortlessly. Tilak got just 19 runs off his first 22 balls but the later part of his innings was breathtaking. Everything that the Gujarat bowlers threw at him, he had an answer for it.  While Hardik struggled to time the ball, Tilak was able to send the cherry out of the park without much ado.

Runs began to flow from his willow in torrents and that left the Titans shell-shocked. He brought up his 50 in quite a style, a six off Ashok Sharma over point in the 18th over. Tilak plundered Ashok, who had conceded 12 in first two overs, for a whopping 26 runs to spoil the latter’s figures.

Tilak and Hardik added 81 off 38 balls for the fifth wicket with Tilak getting 64 off 22 balls, while Hardik made 15 off 16 balls.  Tilak then got 21 off 5 balls as he shared a 22-run partnership for the unbroken sixth wicket with Sherfane Rutherford (1).

Mumbai plundered 101 in last seven overs with 73 of those coming in the last 4 overs. By the time the innings was over, Mumbai had reached 199 for five with Tilak batting on 101 with eight fours and seven sixes. While his first 22 balls got him 19 runs, the next 23 balls fetched him a spectacular 82 runs.

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After the 14th over, Tilak took off, going 6, 4, 4 against Prasidh Krishna and he never looked back. He had the fastest acceleration after 20 balls (where 50 runs or more were scored by a batter after the 20-ball mark) in IPL history, and only the fourth IPL centurion from No. 5 or lower.

Gujarat’s chase never took off

The chase just never began, and the Gujarat response ended before it even started. Jasprit Bumrah struck with his first ball to have Sai Sudharshan (0) caught by Krish Bhagat and the Titans just disappeared into oblivion.

It turned out to be virtual parade as the Mumbai Indians tightened the screws to deny the hosts any escape route. Only four batters reached double figures with Washington Sundar making a topscore of 26. The Titans were bowled out for 100 in 15.5 overs.

Ashwani Kumar bagged four for 24 as Gujarat Titans collapsed for 100 against Mumbai Indians. Pics: BCCI

Ashwani Kumar bagged four for 24, while A Ghazanfar and Mitchell Santner took two wickets apiece.

“Honestly, I think we gave away too many runs in the middle overs. On a wicket like that, 160-170 was a par score. Small hiccup but now we have a couple of games on the road so hopefully we’ll come back in winning form. I think the wicket was on the slower side. I don’t think we hit the right areas. Length balls, some were coming on nicely some weren’t. We weren’t able to hit that length more consistently. I think batting could have been better because there was dew,” said Gujarat skipper Shubman Gill.

Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 199 for five in 20 overs (Naman Dhir 45, Tilak Varma 101 not out; Kagiso Rabada 3/33) beat Gujarat Titans 100 in 15.5 overs (Washington Sundar 26; Ashwani Kumar 4/24, A Ghazanfar 2/17, Mitchell Santner 2/16).