AHMED­ABAD, In­dia – Sher­fane Ruther­ford didn’t pro­duce with the bat, but the Gu­jarat Ti­tans still com­fort­ably de­feat­ed Mum­bai In­di­ans by 36 runs to earn their first win in this year’s In­di­an Pre­mier League (IPL) on Sat­ur­day.

Af­ter be­ing sent in to bat at the Naren­dra Mo­di Sta­di­um, the Ti­tans post­ed a chal­leng­ing 196 for eight from their 20 overs.

They were led by open­er Sai Sud­harsan who top­scored with 63 from 41 balls, while Jos But­tler con­tributed 39 from 24 balls and cap­tain Shub­man Gill 38 from 27 balls.

Ruther­ford made just 18 from 11 balls.

The Mum­bai In­di­ans were then sti­fled in their run chase by dis­ci­plined bowl­ing and could on­ly muster 160 for six from their 20 overs.

Suryaku­mar Ya­dav, who made 48 from 28 balls and Tilak Var­ma (39 from 36 balls), added 62 runs for the third wick­et to put the Mum­bai In­di­ans in a strong po­si­tion at 97 for two in the 11th over.

But once Var­ma was dis­missed by pac­er Prasidh Khris­na, the Mum­bai In­di­ans’ in­nings stalled and they col­lapsed to 124 for six in the 17th over.

Kr­ish­na (2-18) and Mo­hammed Sir­aj (2-34) were the Ti­tans’ best bowlers.

CMC