In the 46th game of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Mumbai Indians (MI) beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six wickets at the IS Bindra Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali. With this win, MI secured the sixth position with 10 points in the points table.
MI captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and invited the hosts to bat first. The home team was able to manage to score 214 /3 in their 20 overs, with the help of the fiery innings from the English batter, Liam Livingstone, and young wicketkeeper batter, Jitesh Sharma.
In response, the Mumbai-based outfit once again had an awful start, as Rohit got out on duck in the very first over. But Ishan Kishan (75) had some other plans this time, and he was knocking the balls for the boundaries to score at a high rate, he was assisted by Cameron Green (23) and built 54 runs partnership for the second wicket. Green fell off the last ball of the powerplay, as he was dismissed by his Australian counterpart, Nathan Ellis. Suryakumar Yadav (66) joined the crease with Kishan, and he once again started to smash the balls and knit 116 runs partnership with his partner for the third wicket, and cruised MI to a winning position. But Ellis got rid of SKY in the 17th over and gave Punjab a chance to make a comeback in this game, but Tilak Varma’s dynamic cameo (26) *, along with Tim David (19)* helped MI to chase this big total in the 18.5 overs.
With the ball, PBKS bowlers did not have a great day. Ellis grabbed two wickets. Arshdeep Singh secured one wicket but was highly expensive. Rishi Dhawan and Rahul Chahar claimed one wicket each.
In the first innings, PBKS had a very loose start, as Arshad Khan drew the first blood by getting Prabhsimran Singh (9) out in the second over. Skipper Shikhar Dhawan (30) and Matthew Short (27) consolidated the innings but were dismissed by Piyush Chawla in the eighth and 12th over respectively. Punjab were expecting a lot from their next slot of batters to score big such as Livingstone (82)* and Jitesh (49)*, and they fulfilled their expectations by playing explosive knocks, which helped the team to cross the 200 runs mark and set a target of 215 runs for the visitors.Â
Chawla once again showed his class with the ball for MI, as he scalped two wickets, and had an economical spell. Arshad got one wicket but leaked a lot of runs as well.
Ishan Kishan was adjudged Player of the Match for his fabulous knock of 75 runs which includes seven fours and four sixes.
Scorecard:
Punjab Kings: 214/ 3, Overs 20, Liam Livingstone 82, Piyush Chawla 2/29
Mumbai Indians: 216/4, Overs 18.5, Ishan Kishan 75, Nathan Ellis 2/34