In the MI VS PBKS game, KL Rahul and Chris Gayle led Punjab to register a 9-wicket win over Mumbai. After being restricted by Punjab at 131/6, MI bowlers struggled against the force of Gayle and Rahul. In the end, PBKS achieved the target with 14 bowls to spare.
MI Inning Highlight
PBKS skipper won the toss and inserted MI to bat first. The decision to bowl first proved the right one as the opening duo of skipper Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock were left struggling in the first few overs of the game.
De Kock who’s been having quite a turbulent tournament so far served a similar fate of perishing as soon as he entered. The batsman wanted to open his arms and tried to shift the gears. However, de Kock swung the bat off Deepak Hooda and found a fielder at mid-on, being dismissed at 3 off 5.
MI were inching closer to the end of the powerplay and yet the team had yet to score runs from boundry. Thankfully, In the 5th over, Rohit finally played a sweep shot off Henriques and hit him for a boundry.
Meanwhile, concerns around Ishan Kishan’s ability to form partnerships for MI continued yet again as he played an agonizingly slow 6 off 17 innings before being dismissed. Kishan edged a bowl of spinner Bishnoi and gave the ball to skipper Rahul
Rohit Sharma on the other hand was still trying to hang in and even tried to turn the heat up. In two overs of Fabian Allen, he hit multiple boundaries off him. On the other end, it was Suryakumar Yadav also slammed 3 boundaries and a maximum in his inning. The duo added 79 runs off 56 for the 3rd wicket before Yadav was dismissed by Bishnoi for 32.
Sharma who was looking to be the only savior of the Mumbai side was also sent packing the very next over by Mohammed Shami. Shami gave Sharma a low full toss on pads which he flicked flat and deposited in the hands of Fabian Allen. The dismissal of Sharma came just when Punjab desperately needed it and MI looked in a messy situation with 112/4 in 17 overs.
In the last three overs Pollard tried to give his teams as many runs as he could have. He played an unbeaten inning of 16 from 12. Though, the Pandya brothers perished on the other end as Hardik scored 1 and Krunal scored 3.
After all said and done, MI could only score 131/6 in its quota of 20 overs.
PBKS Inning Highlight
Chasing 132, Punjab made it look like they were batting on a completely different pitch. The opening duo of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal went all guns blazing. The duo made its intent known in second over itself as they scored 15 off it.
None of the pacers were having any effect on Rahul and Agarwal as Bumrah & Boult both conceded multiple boundaries and maximums. By the end of the powerplay, PBKS were cruising at 52 for no loss, completely different from MI, who were gasping for air at 26/2.
The Punjab Kings were thrown off the game for a second when Mayank Agarwal went after Chahar and played against the turn to deposit the bowl at long-off. Agarwal played a fine 25 run inning.
After Agarwal it was West Indian heavy hitter Chris Gayle that walked in the middle. For the next few overs, it did seem that Gayle would not be able to score off MI bowlers and would have underwhelming outing again. However, Gayle being himself, proved that you can’t push a giant for long. In the 11th over, he went after Chahar and slammed him for a boundary. The next over he slammed a few more against Jayant Yadav and made the 13th over have 12 runs in it.
KL Rahul looked steady on the other end and brought up his 50 off 50 in the 17th over. In the same over, Gayle slammed another boundary off Bumrah and took the equation to 17 needed off 18. Gayle and KL Rahul made light of the target as the duo went after Trent Boult in the 18th over and achieved the target, courtesy two huge maximums and a boundry.
