Suryakumar, Rickelton fire Mumbai Indians to 215/7 against Lucknow Super Giants

Suryakumar Yadav's belligerent 54 and Ryan Rickelton's 58 fired Mumbai Indians to 215/7 in their Indian Premier League contest against Lucknow Super Giants here on Sunday.

Suryakumar continued to plunder runs to become the leading run-scorer in this IPL, crossing the 400-run mark with his third fifty. The India T20 skipper also completed his 4,000 runs in IPL.

Suryakumar's 28-ball knock, laced with four sixes and as many fours, kept MI on track for a total in excess of 200 even as Tilak Varma (6) and Hardik Pandya (5) fell in quick succession.

The standout stroke during his innings was when Suryakumar went down on his knee to lift Prince Yadav (1/44) over fine leg for a six on a waist-high ball.

LSG's decision to bowl first anticipating a spin-friendly track under the sun did backfire to some extent on a batting-friendly pitch here, with none of their bowlers able to control stroke-play.

MI's scoring rate hovered around 10 an over consistently even as it felt they were going through a slowdown in the second half.

Rickelton's assault in the powerplay fuelled Mumbai's charge even as they lost the in-form Rohit Sharma early on.

Coming into the match after scoring back-to-back fifties, Rohit (12) welcomed India speedster Mayank Yadav (2/40) -- in action after an injury layoff -- with two consecutive sixes. But the India captain was undone by a slower delivery.

Mayank pulled Rohit outside off on a 120kmph delivery in the third over, which the batter cut straight into the hands of Prince at third man.

But the early blow had no impact whatsoever as Rickelton stroked his way for an impressive second IPL fifty off 25 balls.

The left-handed South African wicketkeeper-batter hit his strides early in the game, hitting powerfully down the wicket and putting away anything in his range into the stands.

Rickelton forged a second-wicket partnership of 55 runs with Will Jacks (29), setting the foundation for the middle order.

He punished both pace and spin and made the most of the wayward lengths the LSG bowlers bowled at the start of the contest.

Rickelton perished off Digvesh Rathi (1/48) when he made room to hit one over the in-field but top-edged it.

Towards the end, Naman Dhir, who had to change his bat for failing the gauge test, struck 25 off 11 (2x4s, 2x6s), while debutant Corbin Bosch hammered a 10-ball 20 to take MI past the 200-mark.