Mumbai back to winning ways
The combination of Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya once again worked wonders for Mumbai Indians as the duo stitched together an unbroken 45 runs for the fifth wicket to guide their team to a vital win over Punjab Kings in the IPL here on Tuesday.
Set to chase 136, Mumbai reached the target with one over to spare. The win lifts double-defending champion Mumbai to fifth on the table with 10 points, while Punjab is at sixth with eight points.
Pollard and Hardik joined hands when Mumbai was at a precarious 92 for four in 15.1 overs. From there, Hardik, unbeaten on 40 (30b, 4x4, 2x6), and Pollard, not out on 15 (7b, 1x4, 1x6), brought their experience to the fore to consign Punjab to another loss. Saurabh Tiwary, in at No.4, also made a useful contribution, striking 45 runs off 37 balls.
Earlier, Jasprit Bumrah and Pollard snapped two wickets each as Mumbai produced a disciplined bowling performance to restrict Punjab to 135 for six. Sent in to bat, Aiden Markram (42 off 29) was the most successful batsman for Punjab as he shared a 61-run partnership with Deepak Hooda (28) after it was reduced to 48 for 4 in 7.3 overs. However, once the South African was back in the hut in the 16th over, Punjab couldn’t score a single boundary.
Pollard (2 for 8) and Bumrah (2 for 24) were the pick of the bowlers but they were supported well by Krunal Pandya (1 for 24), Rahul Chahar (1 for 27) and Nathan Coulter-Nile (0 for 19).
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 135/6 in 20 overs (A Markram 42) lost to Mumbai Indians 137/4 in 19 overs (S Tiwary 45, H Pandya 40*)