Rahul 103*, Avesh three-for headline dominant Super Giants' fourth win

KL Rahul's 103* from 60 balls, his second century against Mumbai Indians and the second century overall in IPL 2022, as well as two early wickets from Avesh Khan and sloppy fielding from Mumbai in the first half combined to extend the five-time champions' streak of losses to six. The latest defeat all but signals the end of Mumbai's chances for the season, with eight wins in eight now the requirement if they want to have a chance of making the playoffs. Lucknow Super Giants, meanwhile, jumped to second place on the table with their fourth win.

Hardly anything went right for Mumbai after they won the toss. Their bowling was wayward, the fielding was forgettable, and the batting lacked big partnerships or big individual innings; all they got were cameos from Dewald Brevis and Kieron Pollard after Suryakumar Yadav kept them steady in the middle overs.

Regular loss of wickets in their chase of 200 meant Mumbai were always playing catch-up, but they took things somewhat close in the end. And it was mainly down to Pollard and Jaydev Unadkat. Mumbai needed 73 off 27 when Pollard walked out to bat and they took it down to 26 off the last over, but it was always a bridge too far.

The powerplay mixed bag
Mumbai opened the bowling with Tilak Varma's offbreaks, and then went on to use six different bowlers in the powerplay. Barring one swinging delivery from Unadkat early on that nearly hit the top of Quinton de Kock's stumps, the Super Giants openers were unbothered by the bowling changes and were off the blocks quickly. de Kock crunched Unadkat for two fours in that same over, and followed it up with two more in the next against M Ashwin with his trademark slog-sweeps. Rahul, meanwhile, got himself in, trudging to 12 off 15 after a quiet Jasprit Bumrah over before he took on Tymal Mills' full and short deliveries for two fours and six in a 16-run over. Fabian Allen, getting his first game this IPL, removed de Kock on his third ball but not before leaking a six to him, and then a first-ball four to Manish Pandey, which gave Super Giants a strong powerplay of 57 for 1.

Where is Mumbai's A game?
That Mumbai's bowlers erred with their lengths on a ground with shortish boundaries and didn't field like a champion side cost them dearly. Pandey and Rahul were already hitting a boundary nearly every over and Mumbai made their task easier. One fumble at deep square-leg at the end of the eighth over made it two fours in a row off Allen. More of them followed, especially at the deep, and soon after Rahul had struck three sixes for a 33-ball half-century, Brevis stopped a Pandey pull in the deep but he tumbled as he looked like he was slapping it back for another player, and ended up lobbing it over the fence for four. The very next ball, Rahul steered a low and wide full-toss towards third man where a misfield gave him four more.

Rahul's A game is all there
By now, Bumrah was screaming into his towel, Rohit was down on his haunches, and Rahul was looking better and better. After Mills went for another 18 runs in the 13th over with two fours from each batter, Pandey was bowled by Ashwin for 38, only for Marcus Stoinis to launch a wrong'un over long-on for six off his first ball.

Rahul showcased his touch against Allen with another 18-run over that saw two powerful sixes. It was only Bumrah, who stemmed the flow of runs briefly, and Super Giants seemed happy to see him off with ones and twos. For the others, Rahul continued to unleash his drives and scythes, one of which brought up his third IPL century in what was his 100th game in the league.

Stoinis fell at the start of the 17th over and Unadkat and Bumrah conceded 22 in three of the last four overs to keep Super Giants just under 200 when 210 or thereabouts looked likely. But Mills bowled the penultimate over and was taken apart for three fours and a six by Deepak Hooda and Rahul to end on none for 54 from four.

Avesh rattles Mumbai, Brevis shines again
Avesh already had a stellar record against Mumbai before this game, of five wickets in six overs for just 30 runs. On Saturday he got Rohit to edge behind in his first over and then got Brevis to hand a catch to cover, but only after a stunning show from the South African teenager.

Brevis middled his first ball for four past cover point before unleashing some meaty blows for his 13-ball 31. In the fifth over, he smoked Dushmantha Chameera over long-on for a big six before slapping him for two fours. Next over, he smacked Avesh for back-to-back fours as well, one of which nearly took the umpire's head, but he fell drilling a full-toss straight to cover at the end of the powerplay.

Three balls later, Kishan chopped on off Stoinis and Mumbai's chances started dwindling quickly. Suryakumar and Varma had to consolidate in the middle overs by not taking much risk and even though they collected four fours in the space of eight balls off Krunal Pandya and Ravi Bishnoi, the asking rate had shot up to 12 with 84 needed off 42.

Jason Holder's pinpoint yorker ended Varma's stay, and the stand at 64, in the 14th over and Suryakumar holed out to deep midwicket off a top edge next over to leave all hopes on Pollard as they needed a steep 68 off 24. Pollard's consecutive sixes off Chameera and Unadkat's 14 off six balls reduced the equation but Mumbai were always falling short.