Mumbai win thriller
Aterrific three-wicket burst by Jasprit Bumrah helped Mumbai Indians snatch a thrilling three-run victory over Kings XI Punjab in a crunch Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
Batting first, Mumbai Indians scored 186 for 8 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
In reply, Kings XI were on course for an easy win as opener KL Rahul (94) and Aaron Finch (46) raised visions of victory before Bumrah’s triple strike turned the match on it’s head. Kings XI were eventually restricted to 183 runs for the loss of five wickets.
Bumrah broke the Rahul-Finch 111-run second wicket partnership when he sent back Finch (46 off 35) off the first ball of the 17th over, caught by Hardik Pandya and in the fifth ball of the same over he enduced Marcus Stoinis (1) to snick the ball into the glove of keeper Ishan Kishan.
The match was heading for a thrilling finish but Bumrah swung it back Mumbai Indians’ way when he dismissed dangerman Rahul who was caught by Cutting after scoring 94 runs off 60 balls.
Earlier, West Indian power-hitter Keiron Pollard finally found his groove with a fiery 50 to bail Mumbai Indians out of trouble and post a challenging 186/8.
Pollard struck a 23-ball 50, containing five boundaries and three sixes and more importantly was engaged in a 65-run fifth wicket stand with Krunal Pandya (32 off 23 balls; 4x1, 6x2) to steady Mumbai’s start that saw Punjab pacer Andrew Tye (4/16) striking thrice in the powerplay.
Put in to bat, Mumbai were off to a flying start with the in-form Suryakumar Yadav (27 from 15 balls; 4x3, 6x2) and Evin Lewis (9) putting on 37 runs in the first three overs before Australian Andrew Tye’s triple strikes reduced the hosts to 59/3 in no time.
Continuing his glorious run with the bat, Suryakumar started off in his customary style before breaking loose as he smacked rookie pacer Ankit Rajpoot for two fours and as many sixes to milk 21 runs off the second over of the innings before Tye was employed into the attack.
Tye struck on the very first ball of his spell with a well-disguised knuckle ball that broke through the defences of Lewis before removing Yadav and wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan (20 off 12; 4x1, 6x2) off consecutive deliveries in his second over. During his brief stay, Ishan also meted out some special treatment to India discard Mohit Sharma, clobbering the right-arm pacer for a boundary and two massive sixes before being dismissed.
Mumbai’s woes were compounded in the 9th over when a shortpitched delivery from Rajpoot cut short skipper Rohit Sharma’s (6) stay in the middle. Tottering at 71/4 after eight overs, Mumbai’s hopes were pinned on Pollard and Krunal. Coming back, the right-left duo of Pollard and Krunal sent the visiting bowlers to the leather hunt as they resurrected the innings with a 65-run stand. —