Rahul stars as Punjab Kings stun Mumbai Indians by 9 wickets
Rahul, Gayle guide Punjab to a 9-wicket victory over Mumbai
Chennai, April 23: Punjab Kings humbled defending champions Mumbai Indians by nine wickets in their IPL match here on Friday. Chasing a modest target of 132, Punjab Kings completed the task with 14 balls to spare.
Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul scored an unbeaten 60 and veteran Chris Gayle remained not out on 43 for the victors.
Earlier, MI skipper Rohit Sharma scored his first half-century of the season but still his team could only manage 131 for 6.
Rohit said it was not a bad wicket to bat on. “You can see how Kings won with nine wickets in hand. If you get 150-160 you’re always in the game and that is something we’ve failed in the last two games, we need to look at that.
“We can look at it either way — their bowlers bowled very well in that powerplay. Ishan was tyring to hit but couldn’t get it, even myself. We were trying but the wicket was easy. In the last four games we really batted well in the powerplay but today we failed to do so,” added Rohit.
Rohit scored 63 off 52 balls while Suryakumar Yadav contributed 33 off 27 balls on a sluggish Chepauk surface.
The duo added 79 for the third wicket while Kieron Pollard chipped in with an unbeaten 16 off 12 balls towards the end.
For Punjab Kings, Deepak Hooda was economical with 1 for 15 in 3 overs, while Mohammed Shami and Ravi Bishnoi had the joint best figures of 2 for 21.
Punjab Kings produced a discipline bowling performance to restrict Mumbai Indians to 131 for six despite a fine half-century by Rohit Sharma in the IPL here on Friday. Mumbai struggled to 21 for one in the first six overs, the lowest powerplay score this season after being put into bat.
A 79-run stand between Rohit (63 off 52) and Suryakumar Yadav (33 off 27) steadied the ship for the five-time champions but they could not find the final flourish, managing only 34 runs in the last five overs for the loss of four wickets.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi, playing his first game of the season, was the standout bowler for Punjab Kings with two wickets for 21 runs in four overs. Lead pacer Mohammad Shami (2/21 in four overs) was also impressive.
As has been the case so far at Chepauk, batsmen found it extremely difficult to get going early in the innings on a slow surface.
Quinton de Kock perished as early as the second over after he mistimed one off spinner Deepak Hooda to be caught at mid-on.
Ishan Kishan (6 17) came ahead of Suryakumar Yadav at number three but the southpaw struggled once again before being caught behind in Bishnoi's first over, making it 26 for two in seven overs.
Rohit, at the other end, managed to keep the scoreboard ticking. Leftarm spinner Fabian Allen bowled a high full toss to Rohit in the 10th over and he duly dispatched it over the cow corner for a six to release some pressure.
After Suryakumar joined Rohit in the middle, batting suddenly started looking much easier. A well-set Rohit started playing the ball late and was good with finding the gaps. Suryakumar, at the other end, got into the groove with a four and six off left-arm pacer Arshdeep. Their partnership ended after Suryakumar failed to execute a reverse sweep to be caught at short third man off Bishnoi’s bowling, leaving Mumbai at 105 for three with 23 balls left in the innings.
Some much-needed lusty blows were expected from the likes of Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard in the death overs but Punjab were able to keep them quiet.