Hardik keeps MI hopes alive
Tiwary set it up and Pandya finished it as defending champions continue to be in race to make it to the last 4
MUMBAI: After the string of defeats and an underwhelming performance against Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore the other night, Mumbai Indians were switched on with the ball on Tuesday. They were short of producing their A game but another below-par batting show by Punjab Kings was enough for the defending champions to race away to a sixwicket win in Abu Dhabi.
Mumbai have been in a scamper for playoff berths before. But not off late, after becoming the dominant IPL side they now are. In need of four straight wins to seal a playoff spot, MI had to do something different. They made the first big move before a ball was bowled by dropping the World Cup bound Ishan Kishan.
The next one was to give the first ball to Krunal Pandya’s leftarm-spin. Before this game, Krunal had been bowling with a season average of 69. So, the move had more to do with using up a Krunal over in the powerplay. So well did the trick work that the elder Pandya ended up bowling three overs (3-16-1) in the first-six, also accounting for Mandeep Singh’s wicket. Krunal used a mix of quickish angled balls with the odd seam-up and PK weren’t enterprising enough to target him. Soon after the field spread out, Kieron Pollard pegged PK further back in the space of 3 balls. He first got KL Rahul (21) to glove to short fine leg. Mumbai would have been wary of not exposing Krunal against Chris Gayle, but a couple of balls after Rahul’s wicket, the MI vice-captain took care of his fellow West Indian—dismissing him on the long-on boundary for one run. In the very next over, Jasprit Bumrah sent down a fiery yorker to remove the dangerous Nicolas Pooran (2), leaving the topheavy Punjab batting reeling at 50/4 after eight overs.
The Deepak Hooda-aiden Markram fifth wicket partnership added 61 runs, but they could never pick up speed. With no hitting options in their lower order, Punjab could not step on the accelerator, ending on 135/6.
In reply, Mumbai couldn’t completely overcome their batting blues. Taking a cue from Kolkata Knight Riders’ book, Punjab started with part-time off-spinner Aiden Markram. Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock are not weak, but less at ease in attacking the spinners in the powerplay. The word has gone around, and KL Rahul introduced his trump card Ravi Bishnoi in the fourth over. It was Punjab’s turn to produce a two-wicket over of their own.
Bishnoi got Sharma out (8) slogging to mid-on and the next ball bowled Suryakumar Yadav (0) through the gate off back-toback googlies. With Kishan sitting out and Yadav dismissed for the fourth time in a row without getting to double digits, MI’S problems would have begun to worry the Indian selectors.
In his third over, Bishnoi produced another chance off his googly against de Kock but Markram failed to hold on to what would have been an outstanding catch, covering considerable ground to his right from long-off but failing to hold on. The reprieve didn’t help de Kock as the seasoned opener lost concentration and got out (27) to an ugly heave against a Mohammed Shami’s length ball that shattered his stumps, reducing Mumbai to 61/3.
Mumbai’s best batter on view was Saurabh Tiwari. Coming in at No.4, he was the man who eased the pressure off his outof-touch batting partners by striking timely blows through his 45-run stay. After he was gone in the 16th over, MI’S famed power-hitters Hardik Pandya and Pollard saw them home.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 135/6 in 20 overs (A Markram 42; K Pollard 2/8, J Bumrah 2/24) lost to Mumbai Indians 137/4 in 19 overs (S Tiwary 45, H Pandya 40*; R Bishnoi 2/25) by 6 wickets.
MUMBAI: For a bowler who has had to miss large chunks of game time over the last decade tweaking and remodelling his oft-flagged action, Sunil Narine has played a lot of cricket in the last few months.
Eight matches in The Hundred that began in July followed by 10 in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) meant the Trinidadian came into the IPL second leg with overs and wickets—19 across the two leagues—behind him.
The spinner has been at the forefront of Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) resurgence run in the UAE with three wins from four matches, the latest by three wickets against Delhi Capitals on Tuesday.
On a sluggish Sharjah pitch, Narine was in his element, first courtesy two wickets in his four-over spell conceding 18 and then two sixes in a 10ball 21 that freed up a tight 128-run chase from 96/5 in the 15th over.
One delivery provided a flashback moment. Loading up in his run-up while hiding the ball behind his right thigh, Narine changed his grip in a split second.
The ball drifted away, and after pitching on a good length, spun back in through the batpad gap of Shreyas Iyer as he tried to run it through the off. Iyer wore a perplexed look, Narine a smile. The 33-year-old has taken six wickets in the four matches so far in the UAE, creating the kind of impact he is known for.
Against Mumbai Indians last week, his wicket of Rohit Sharma not only stalled the opposition surge but sparked a collapse from 78/0 in the 10th over.
In KKR’S next game against Chennai Super Kings, Narine was tasked with defending four runs off the final over. He dismissed Sam Curran off the first ball and the in-form Ravindra Jadeja off the fifth before Deepak Chahar got the all-important single. From a seemingly hopeless situation, Narine gave KKR hope.
“I’m coming off a good amount of cricket,” Narine said