Mumbai Indians succumbed to their fifth straight loss this season as Punjab Kings won the match by 12 runs on Wednesday at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune.
Earlier in the game, Punjab’s Skipper Mayank Agarwal and veteran Shikhar Dhawan went on to make their first half-centuries of the season as Punjab Kings rode on a fine start from the openers to post a challenging 198 for five.
Punjab Kings have deployed ‘attack is the best form of defence’ philosophy during this edition of the league and there was no shift in policy as they added 97 in less than 10 overs.
Bumrah’s toe-crusher which yorked the dangerous Liam Livingstone helped MI to keep things under check with 99 runs coming in the last 10 overs.
Agarwal, who wasn’t having a great run before this game, brought his customary square off the wicket shots on the off-side and straight lofts of spinners to score 52 off 32 balls.
Dhawan took his own time while playing the second fiddle but still kept up the tempo letting Agarwal go for the whole hog during their stand. But he did accelerate after that before getting out for 70 off 50 balls.
It was Mumbai’s domestic bowlers like Basil Thampi (2/47 in 4 overs) and Murugan Ashwin (1/34 in 4 overs), who aren’t measuring up match after match but skipper Rohit Sharma is helpless due to the lack of options.
Despite knowing Agarwal’s propensity to make room and smash through off-side, he was fed with length balls outside the off-stump by Thampi and Tymal Mills.
Dhawan went onto his 45th IPL half-ton but the shot that showed his authority was a disdainful slog sweep off a 137 click delivery from Thampi.
Thampi did get his revenge by getting Dhawan holed in the deep before rookie Jitesh Sharma (30 no off 15 balls) smashed 23 off Jaydev Unadkat (1/44 in 4 overs) in the 18th over to get the momentum back which had slipped after a few dismissals.
Chasing 199, Rohit Sharma raced away to 28 of 17 deliveries before Rabada sent him packing. Ishan Kishan fell soon after as Punjab looked well on top.
Then came, Dewald Brevis or Baby AB as many call him. Fair to say, he did live up to his nickname and smashed Rahul Chahar for 29 runs in the 9th over. Brevis got out at 49, but he changed the entire complexion of the game.
The young Indian sensation, Tilak Varma flexed some muscles and raced away to 36 of 20 deliveries before a mix up with Suryakumar Yadav cost him his wicket.
This wasn’t the only run out though, Pollard too was caught in a yes, no situation with Suryakumar and paid the price with his wicket. This happened when MI required 47 runs from 23 deliveries.
Suryakumar Yadav kept the runs flowing with his exquisite stroke play and it all came down to 28 runs from the last 2 overs.
Rabada bowled the penultimate over and got rid of the dangerous Suryakumar Yadav. After Sky’s dismissal, it was just about completing the formalities as Punjab beat Mumbai Indians by a comfortable margin of 12 runs.
