Suresh Raina led from the front with a 36-ball 58.
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The turning point: Dwayne Bravo (2-22) has been brilliant at death for the Lions and tonight he was backed up superbly by Dhawal Kulkarni (2-41) and Praveen Kumar (2-24) in the last four overs.
Rana and Jos Buttler only scored 27 runs in the first 30 balls of their partnership, and Mumbai were 72 for 3 at the halfway point of their innings.
Debutants Gujarat Lions became the first team to confirm a play-off berth with a thumping six-wicket win over defending champions Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League encounter, here tonight.
Sharma hit one more six in the fourth over before he was caught in the deep trying to play a pull shot.
Earlier, Delhi youngster Nitish Rana played the most eventful innings of his nascent career as his scintillating 70 enabled Mumbai Indians post a competitive 172 for 8 against Gujarat Lions after being put into bat. With three quick wickets, Mumbai were struggling at 45/3 inside the powerplay. Rattled, Bumrah fed McCullum on his pads and then gave him width; 19 came off that over and Lions’ required rate was now only 7.35.
In fact after Rohit’s brief onslaught initially, it was Rana-Buttler combination that added 75 runs in 8.5 overs to lay the foundation for a decent total.
When Raina came in, the pair put on a 96-run partnership before McCullum fell to Harbhajan Singh. Total: (for 8 wkts, in 20 overs) 172. For Mumbai, R. Vinay Kumar (2-17) was the pick of their bowlers.
It was in the third over that Raina (58) went ballistic and smashed Mitchell McClenaghan (0-38) for three fours and a six. The stand was broken in the 10th over when Singh (1-36) castled McCullum.
The difference between the two teams was the whopping 48 dot balls that Gujarat Lions bowled and poor fielding that cost MI atleast 15 runs.
Dinesh Karthik (3) too fell cheaply.
And the reigning champions are nearly certainly out of their title defense as Gujarat Lions made a statement of intent with an emphatic win.
In the dying overs of the match, Smith and Ravindra Jadeja (21 not out) held onto take Gujarat over the line. It took just 17.5 overs for Gujarat Lions to chase down the target and secure a six wicket win.
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As a result of this victory, Sunrisers Hyderabad also confirmed a playoff spot, irrespective of what happens in their final league game against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday. On the other hand, Mumbai’s chances of making it to the playoffs are nearly over as the margin of loss is going to dent their net run rate further. Raina took home the man of the match for his fifty.
