MI vs KXIP: Mumbai Indians beat Kings XI Punjab by 3 runs, move to fourth
May 17, 2018
Defending champions Mumbai Indians kept themselves alive in the tournament as they defeated Kings XI Punjab by three runs in their must-win game at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Wednesday. Mumbai jumped to fourth in the Indian Premier League standings after registering their sixth win in 13 games.
KL Rahul’s 94 went in vain as Kings XI ended agonisingly short of their 187-run target to suffer their seventh defeat of the season as they dropped down to sixth in the points table. Jasprit Bumrah (3/15) produced a spirited performance to stop Kings XI at 183/5 in 20 overs.
Defending 17 off final over, Mitchell McClenaghan (2/37) gave away just two runs and took the wicket of Yuvraj Singh to change the equation to 15 off 3 balls. Axar (10 not out) hit a six in the fourth ball and Manoj Tiwary (4*) hit a four off last ball, but still they ended up short.
Rahul and Chris Gayle gave Kings XI run chase a fiery start. Gayle and Rahul clobbered 19 runs in the third over off Hardik Pandya, with the West Indian hitting a six and a four while the Indian smashed back-to-back fours as Kings XI reached 28/0.
But Gayle top-edged one off McClenaghan as Mumbai got a big breakthrough in the fourth over. Gayle hit a six and two fours during his 11-ball 18 knock.
Rahul along with Aaron Finch then took Kings XI to 57/1 after the six Powerplay overs. They brought up fifty-run partnership as Kings XI reached 86/1 at the halfway mark.
With a single off Krunal Pandya in the 11th over, Rahul completed his fifty off 36 balls with the help of a six and six fours. Rahul (652) also breached the 600-run mark for the season as he took back the Orange Cap from Rishabh Pant (582).
Rahul then smacked back-to-back sixes off Mayank Markande as Kings XI reached 145/1 in 16 overs.
Needing 42 off four overs, Bumrah struck twice in the 17th over to dent the Kings XI run chase. Bumrah dismissed Finch (46) to break the 111-run stand for the second wicket with Rahul, before scalping Marcus Stoinis with the fifth ball to reduce Kings XI to 149/3 in 16.5 overs. Finch hit a six and three fours during his 35-ball innings.
In the next over, Rahul smacked three consecutive boundaries off Ben Cutting to make the equation 23 off 12 balls. But in the penultimate over, Bumrah struck a massive blow to Kings XI by dismissing Rahul. When Rahul fell for 94 off 60 balls, which included three sixes and ten fours, the equation was 20 off 9 balls.
Earlier, West Indian Kieron Pollard struck a blistering fifty to rescue Mumbai from a mid-innings slump to a formidable 186/8.
Mumbai got off to a flying start, reaching 57/1 after five overs but they lost three wickets in quick succession, including two off successive balls, against the pace bowling of Andrew Tye (4/16) before Pollard (50 off 23 balls) and Krunal (32 off 23 balls) resurrected the stuttering innings.
Before this knock, Pollard had only scored a paltry 83 runs in 8 matches and was dropped from the playing XI but his 65-run stand with Krunal in 36 balls, steered Mumbai out of trouble after they had slumped to 71/4.
Tye wrecked havoc on Mumbai’s top and middle order and his victims included Evin Lewis (9), Ishan Kishan (20) and Suryakumar Yadav (27).
After a cautious start, Krunal stuck two consecutive sixes and a four in the 12th over off Marcus Stoinis, while Pollard followed it up with two sixes and as many fours in the next two overs.
However, just when they were looking good, Krunal threw his wicket away. But that did not dither Pollard who kept hitting his shots and raced to his fifty in just 22 balls studded with five fours and three sixes.
But as the West Indian all-rounder was poised for a big score, Ravichandran Ashwin (2/18) removed him in the 16th over, bringing Punjab back into the game. Hardik Pandya (9) and Ben Cutting (4) too fell cheaply.
The play was halted for about 12 minutes mid-way to the Mumbai innings as two flood-lights went off in the stadium.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 186/8 (Kieron Pollard 50; Andrew Tye 4/16) beat Kings XI Punjab 183/5 (KL Rahul 94; Jasprit Bumrah 3/15) by three runs.
