Mumbai Indians finish off Punjab to boost playoff chances
With both Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings locked in at eight points each, it was imminent that this match was crucial for both sides. However, the will of the defending champions was greater as they beat KL Rahul’s men by six wickets to boost their title defence chances.
Needing 136 runs to win, the Men in Blue completed the chase with one over to spare.
Makram stabilizes the Punjab batting
After a narrow win against Sunrisers Hyderabad, it was important for Punjab to erase the mistakes that they did in that match. However, the bad habits came back to bite them once again. Mandeep Singh left the crease after scoring 15 runs. Just like their previous game, their batting line-up depended entirely on KL Rahul.
Chris Gayle continued his struggle for form as he only added one run to the total. The Punjab captain could only score 21 runs off 22 balls.
In the eighth over, Jasprit Bumrah removed Nicholas Pooran to create further problems for the 2014 runner-ups. Aiden Makram and Deepak Mooda tried to bring some stability for KL Rahul’s men. Even though they were running out of time, both the batsmen had the intention of getting the scoreboard ticking over and attacking the last five overs.
From 15th over onwards, we saw exactly that. Markram dispatched Trent Boult for consecutive boundaries on the first two balls to ensure that the Kings cross the 100 mark. Despite trying to attack, the Indian batsman fell to Rahul Chahar in the next over. The 26-year old scored 42 runs off 29 balls.
On the other hand, Hooda was given a lifeline after Boult dropped him. However, the Makram dismissal pushed KL Rahul’s men on the back foot as Harpreet Brar never seemed to get going.
The dot balls from Brar brought all the pressure on Hooda’s shoulders which was too much for him. He fell to Bumrah, who carried on his great bowling form for the defending champions. There were no boundaries scored in the last 29 balls as the Kings finished with 135/6.
Hardik clinches the won for MI
The run chase started with Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock both playing according to the situation. Their priority was not to finish the match early but to just attack the loose balls and minimize the deficit.
However, Ravi Bishnoi changed the scenario of the match by taking wickets of the Mumbai skipper and Suryakumar Yadav on consecutive balls.
Saurabh Tiwary tried to support the South African batsman to ensure that they create a foundation for a successful run chase. Just when you felt that a partnership was about to build, Mohammad Shami removed de Kock, who scored 27 runs of 29 balls. At the halfway mark, the match hung in the balance, with the five-time champions at 62/3.
In the 14th over, Hardik Pandya got dropped by Harpreet at the backward point which proved to be too costly for PBKS. In the last six overs, Mumbai required 52 runs. Soon after, Nathan Ellis removed Tiwari, who scored 45 runs off 37 balls.
All eyes were on Indians’ star all-rounder, Kieron Pollard. Requiring 40 runs in the last four overs, Pandya changed gears as he hit Shami for a six and four.
Pollard then took flight as he smashed Arshdeep Singh for a four and six to put Mumbai in the driver seat. In the next over, the Indian all-rounder joined in the act by hitting Shami for one six and two fours to seal the match. Pandya finished unbeaten with 40 runs of 30 balls.
