Mumbai Indians rode on a complete team performance to beat Kings XI Punjab by 48 runs on Thursday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
With this win, which was their second of this season’s IPL, the defending champions now stand at the top of the points table with four points from three matches.
Four other teams also have the same number of points but are behind Mumbai due to net run rate (NRR). Punjab have won a solitary match and have two points.
Despite a sloppy start, Rohit Sharma’s 45-ball 70 and fiery knocks from Kieron Pollard (47 off 20 balls) and Hardik Pandya (30 off 11) down the order helped Mumbai Indians in posting 191/4 at the end of the 20 overs.
Chasing, Kings XI Punjab never looked on course as the Mumbai bowlers kept hindering their efforts with regular wickets. Jasprit Bumrah with his 2/18 was the main architect of Mumbai’s defence. He got able support from all the other bowlers as well.
KXIP made a cautious start as their openers KL Rahul (17) and Mayank Agarwal (25) took the side to 37 runs in the initial four overs. Jasprit Bumrah broke the partnership as he dismantled Mayank’s wickets in the fifth over. Krunal Pandya further jolted KXIP after sending back Karun Nair for a duck with the scorecard reading 39/2.
Despite tumbling wickets, Nicholas Pooran showed resistance with the bat and tried to anchor KXIP innings as he shared a 41-run partnership with Glenn Maxwell (11) which helped their side cross the three-digit mark.
However, the joy didn’t last long for them James Pattinson got rid of a dangerous looking Pooran in the 14th over as KXIP were reduced to 101/4. Pooran’s innings contained three fours and two sixes.
Just when KXIP added another six runs to their total, Chahar struck again, this time accounting for the wicket of Maxwell. James Neesham (7) and Sarfaraz Khan (7) were back in the hut, courtesy Bumrah and Pattinson respectively, while Trent Boult, too, joined the party as he accounted for the wicket of Ravi Bishnoi (1) in the 19th over with KXIP score being 124/8.
For Mumbai, Bumrah, Chahar, and Pattinson bagged two wickets each while Krunal and Boult settled with one each.
Earlier, Rohit’s classic knock was decorated with eight fours and three maximums. The four-time champions had a poor start as they lost opener Quinton de Kock, who departed without troubling the scorers and Suryakumar Yadav with just 21 runs on board.
Sheldon Cottrell drew the first blood for KXIP as he issued marching orders to de Kock in the very first over while Yadav was run out by Shami, courtesy a direct hit from short fine leg.
Despite the regular blows, Rohit kept the fight on and also notched-up his half-century. In the process, he also became the third Indian to cross the 5,000 run-mark in IPL.
While trying to accelerate the run rate, the MI skipper was out to a fine catch via a joint effort James Neesham and Glenn Maxwell at the long-off boundary. Rohit played a lofted shot over long-off boundary off a Shami delivery in the 17th over. However, Maxwell grabbed it and just when he was about to cross the boundary, he sensibly threw the ball to James Neesham, who made no mistake.
Rohit’s fall left Mumbai at 124/4 in 16.1 overs, and then Hardik and Pollard’s cameo lifted their side to a respectable total. The duo gathered 67 runs off the final 23 balls which included some massive hits into the stands.
Pollard’s knock was laced with three boundaries and four huge hits while Hardik smashed three fours and a couple of sixes.
For KXIP, Krishnappa Gowtham, Cottrell, and Shami bagged a wicket apiece.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 191/4 wkts in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 70, Kieron Pollard 47; Sheldon Cottrell 1/20) beat Kings XI Punjab 143/8 wkts in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 44, Mayank Agarwal 25; Jasprit Bumrah 2/18) by 48 runs
With IANS inputs