On Monday, Mumbai Indians chased down 136 in 19 overs, courtesy of 40s from Saurabh Tiwary-Hardik Pandya and all-round show from Kieron Pollard, to defeat Punjab Kings after three consecutive losses in the UAE leg of the tournament.
Kieron Pollard was the star for Mumbai Indians with his all-round performance, where he picked two crucial wickets in an over and scored 15* off 7 to with the bat. Hardik Pandya and Saurabh Tiwary contributed with 40s while Jasprit Bumrah was also amongst the wickets.
As it happened, Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bowl first. KL Rahul, who was without his regular partner Mayank Agarwal, opened the innings with Mandeep Singh. The duo had a watchful start, scoring 35 runs in five overs before Krunal Pandya trapped Mandeep (15 off 14) LBW to land the first blow.
Rohit handed the ball to Pollard straightaway after the powerplay. Whether it was bait or a ploy to sneak an over, but it worked wonders for MI. Chris Gayle (1) tried to smash him out of the ground only to get holed out at long-on. Two deliveries later, captain Rahul (21 off 22) was hurried to try to pull and gloved it to fine leg to become the 300th victim of Pollard’s T20 bowling career.
Bumrah was brought back into the attack to remove the dangerous Nicholas Pooran, and he did just that with a searing yorker to reduce PBKS to 48/4. Aiden Markram and Deepak Hooda stitched together a 61-run partnership for the fifth wicket and had started to up the ante.
But Rahul Chahar cleaned Markram on an excellent 42 off 29. MI did an outstanding job in the death overs, giving only 30 runs in the last five overs to restrict Punjab to 135/6.
Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers for MI with 2/24 in four while Pollard picked 2/8 in one over. Krunal Pandya bowled a tight spell of 1/24.
Chasing a small total, a more confident MI would’ve mowed down the target with ease. But they had their demons, especially their out-of-form middle order. Mumbai’s best batter of the season, Sharma (8 off 10) tried to go big against Ravi Bishnoi in the fourth over after a slow start but didn’t get the elevation and was out caught at mid-on. An awful run of form continued for Suryakumar Yadav as Bishnoi cleaned him up on a golden duck.
Quinton de Kock and Saurabh Tiwary rebuilt the innings slowly, adding 45 runs for the third wicket in 6.3 overs. De Kock (27 off 29) tried a hoick off Mohammed Shami but chopped it onto the stumps as PBKS got back into the game. Hardik Pandya and Tiwary played out a tricky phase, adding 31 runs before Tiwary edged an innocuous delivery by Nathan Ellis to Rahul. Tiwary played excellently and held the innings together with his 45 off 37.
The equation was 40 runs off four overs. Hardik, who was struggling to score up until then, pulled a good length delivery from Shami for four and followed it up with his trademark flick for six. With 29 needed off the last three overs, Arshdeep Singh bowled three excellent wide yorkers, giving only a run. The next delivery was slightly off the mark, and Pollard drove it through covers for a four before dispatching the next over long-off.
When MI needed 16 off the last two overs, Hardik finished it off two boundaries and a chancy six against Shami to get the team back to winning ways. Pollard was named the ‘Player of the match’ for his valuable all-round contribution.
MI jumped to the fifth position with 10 points, whereas KKR also have 10 points but currently occupy fourth place due to their superior net run-rate of +0.363 to MI’s -0.453. Punjab Kings slipped down to sixth place and will need to win the remaining three games while also improving their NRR.
Brief Scores
Punjab Kings – 135/6 in 20 overs (Markram 42, Hooda 28; Pollard 2/8, Bumrah 2/24)
Mumbai Indians – 137/4 in 19 overs (Tiwary 45, Pandya 40*; Bishnoi 2/25, Ellis 1/12) won by six wickets.
