PUNE, Apr 13:
Mumbai Indians inched closer towards elimination after setting themselves up for their first win, only to slump to their fifth defeat on trot as Punjab Kings won a high-scoring IPL thriller by 12 runs here on Wednesday.
A target of 199 looked imminently chaseable when teenagers Dewald Brevis (49 off 25 balls) and NT Tilak Varma (36 off 20 balls) were at the crease but Punjab bowlers did well enough to restrict MI to 186 for nine at the end of 20 overs.
Odean Smith (4/30 in 4 overs) redeemed himself after the horror last two balls against Gujarat Titans as he got two wickets in the final over for Punjab.
For Mumbai, eight wins in nine games with this kind of bowling attack looks near impossible.
However, if there was one positive, it was Brevis’s batting. It took eight balls before Brevis could get going as he unleashed a cover drive and a straight drive off Arshdeep Singh to tee off. A pulled six off Smith settled his nerves before he decided to wreak havoc with India international Rahul Chahar’s nerve.
A boundary was followed by four huge sixes as Chahar first lost length and then his bearings as one long hop after another was deposited into the stands.
The Baby AB’s transformation from boy to a man happened with that 29-run over which showed that MI had made a 10-year investment.
He was finally out one short of his maiden IPL fifty but not before leaving everyone yearning for more.
At the other end was Tilak, who had already made an impression, showed great game sense by letting Brevis do the heavy lifting before he himself hit some marvellous sixes including an audacious slash over point off Smith.
The duo added 84 runs in just 6.5 overs to turn the match head on before their successive dismissals did again bring Punjab back as fortunes swung like a pendulum.
Suryakumar Yadav (43 off 30 balls) wasn’t in best rhythm and Kieron Pollard (10, 11 balls) season just got from bad to worse.
Finally, it was Surya, who took matters in his own hands with a six over extra cover off Vaibhav Arora and then opened the face to slash it over backward point for a six as 33 were required off last three overs.
However it was Kagiso Rabada, who removed Surya in the 19th over, caught by Smith in the deep after which there wasn’t much resistance left from MI.
Earlier, skipper Mayank Agarwal and veteran Shikhar Dhawan struck 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. (PTI)
Scoreboard
Punjab Kings
Mayank Agarwal c Yadav b Ashwin 52
Shikhar Dhawan c Pollard b Basil Thampi 70
Jonny Bairstow b Unadkat 12
Liam Livingstone b Bumrah 2
Jitesh Sharma not out 30
M Shahrukh Khan b Basil Thampi 15
Odean Smith not out 1
Extras: (LB-8, W-8) 16
Total: (For 5 wickets in 20 overs) 198
Fall of wickets: 1-97, 2-127, 3-130, 4-151, 5-197
Bowling: Basil Thampi 4-0-47-2, Jaydev Unadkat 4-0-44-1, Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-28-1, Murugan Ashwin 4-0-34-1, Tymal Mills 4-0-37-0.
Mumbai Indians
Rohit Sharma c Vaibhav Arora b Rabada 28
Ishan Kishan c Jitesh Sharma b Arora 3
Dewald Brevis c Arshdeep Singh b Smith 49
Tilak Varma run out (Agarwal/Arshdeep ) 36
Suryakumar Yadav c Smith b Rabada 43
Kieron Pollard run out (Smith/Jitesh) 10
Jaydev Unadkat c Agarwal b Odean Smith 12
Murugan Ashwin not out 0
Jasprit Bumrah c Dhawan b Odean Smith 0
Tymal Mills c Mayank Agarwal b Smith 0
Extras : (lb 0, w 4, nb 1,) 5
Total: (9 wkts, 20 Ov) 186
Fall of Wickets: 31-1, 32-2, 116-3, 131-4, 152-5, 177-6, 185-7, 186-8, 186-9
Bowling: Vaibhav Arora 4-0-43-1, Kagiso Rabada 4-0-29-2, Arshdeep Singh 4-0-29-0, Odean Smith 3-0-30-4, Liam Livingstone 1-0-11-0, Rahul Chahar 4-0-44-0.
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