Gujarat Lions crushed MumbaiIndians by six wickets in 17.5 overs in the Indian Premier League (IPL), denting the hopes of the rivals for a playoff berth here Saturday. With this win GL has qualified for playoffs stage of IPL. Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina massacred Jasprit Bumrah and co. in their 96-run stand for the second wicket to rocket their team to a big victory. In the process Raina went on to notch up his second consecutive IPL half-century. After the fall of McCullum and Raina it was Dwayne Smith who continued hammering MI to guide his team to an comfortable yet resounding win. Earlier, batting first MumbaiIndians could only manage 172 runs with Nitish Rana performing well for them. Rana secured his first ever IPL fifty, received help from Jos Buttler. The 75-run stand of Buttler and Rana formed the backbone of Mumbai's batting. Buttler made 31-ball 33 while Rana made a 36-ball 70. Dwayne Bravo, Praveen Kumar, Dhaval Kulkarni and Dwayne Smith picked up two wickets each to star for GL. Brief scores: MumbaiIndians 172-8 (Nitish Rana 70, Jos Buttler 33; Dwayne Bravo 2-22). Gujarat Lions 173-4 (Suresh Raina 58, Brendon McCullum 48; Vinay Kumar 2-17). Earlier, a MS Dhoni-show in Rising Pune Supergiants' final match helped them bow out of the IPL in style, with a superb win by four wickets over Kings XI Punjab (KXIP). Dhoni remained unbeaten on 64 off 32 as he anchored RPS' chase of 173 on the last ball of the match. After this match, it is Punjab that finished last on the points table of the IPL 2016, below RPS which has finished with 10 points after five wins from 14 matches. RPS needed 23 runs in the final over and Punjab skipper Murali Vijay gave the ball to spinner Akshar Patel. After a dot and wide off the first two deliveries, Dhoni went all guns blazing. The wicket-takers for Punjab were Patel, Sandeep Sharma, Gurkeerat Singh Rishi Dhawan and Mohit Sharma. Earlier, Punjab skipper Vijay won the toss and opted to bat. Half-centuries from Vijay and Gurkeerat powered Punjab to 172 in 20 overs. Brief scores: Kings XI Punjab 172-7 (Murali Vijay 59, Gurkeerat Singh 51; Ravi Ashwin 4-34). Rising Pune Supergiants 173-6 (MS Dhoni 64 not out; Gurkeerat Singh 2-15). India board to appoint Thakur as new president India's cricket board was set to announce its youngest ever president after it said Saturday that current secretary Anurag Thakur was the sole candidate for the post — one of the most powerful in world sport. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said in a statement that Thakur, 41, was the "only" nomination and would be announced as its new chief following a meeting in Mumbai Sunday. "He will be officially declared elected as the President of the BCCI for the remaining term 2014-17, tomorrow at the Special General Meeting," said the statement issued late Saturday. Thakur, who is a member of parliament for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, succeeds Shashank Manohar who stepped down earlier this month to become the first independent chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The top post at the cash-rich BCCI is regarded by many as the most powerful in global cricket. The board benefits from huge TV deals that allow it to effectively run the ICC with its allies, Australia and England.
