GABBAR IS BACK
Dhawan slams first half century of the season to help PBKS win by 12 runs; Mumbai Indians lose fifth match on the trot, in deep trouble
Five-time champions Mumbai Indians' winless run in the tournament continued as they slumped to a 12-run loss against Punjab Kings to suffer their fifth straight defeat in the ongoing IPL here on Wednesday. Chasing 199, MI could only muster 186 for nine to suffer yet another defeat. Dewald Brevis top-scored for MI with 49 off 25 balls, while Tilak Varma made 36 off 20 deliveries. Surya Kumar Yadav (43) gave a glimmer of hope to the home team but once he was back in the pavilion it was curtains for the Rohi Sharma-led outfit.
For Punjab, Odean Smith (4-30) shone bright with the ball, while Kagiso Rabada picked up two wickets for 29 runs.
Earlier, Skipper Mayank Agarwal and veteran Shikhar Dhawan struck their first halfcenturies of the season.
Punjab Kings have deployed "attack is the best form of defence" philosophy during this edition of the league and there was no shift in policy as they added 97 in less than 10 overs to provide a perfect launchpad but Jasprit Bumrah's (1-28 in 4 overs) brilliance kept the score below 200. Bumrah's toe-crusher which yorked the dangerous Liam Livingstone helped MI to keep things under check with 99 runs coming of the last 10 overs.
Agarwal, who wasn't having a great run before this game, brought his customary square off the wicket shots on the offside and straight lofts of spinners to score 52 off 32 balls. Dhawan took his own time while playing the second fiddle but still kept up the tempo letting Agarwal go for the whole hog during their stand. But he did accelerate after that before getting out for 70 off 50 balls.
It was Mumbai's domestic bowlers like Basil Thampi (2-47 in 4 overs) and Murugan Ashwin
(1-34 in 4 overs), who aren't measuring up match after match but skipper Rohit Sharma is helpless due the lack of options.
Despite knowing Agarwal's propensity to make room and smash through off-side, he was fed with length balls outside the off-stump by Thampi and Tymal Mills. When they bowled short, the pace was used to good effect.
In case of Ashwin, the PBKS skipper would come down the track to loft him straight but he did get his man when Agarwal went for one shot too many.
Dhawan went onto his 45th IPL half-ton but the shot that showed his authority was a disdainful slog sweep off a 137 click delivery from Thampi.
Thampi got his revenge by getting Dhawan caught in the deep before rookie Jitesh Sharma (30 no off 15 balls) smashed 23 off Jaydev Unadkat (1-44 in 4 overs) in the 18th over to get the momentum back which had slipped after a few dismissals. BRIEF SCORES: Punjab Kings: 198
for 5 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 70, Mayank Agarwal 52; Basil Thampi 2-47) beat MI 186-9 in 20 overs (Dewald Brevis 49, Tilak Varma 36, Surya Kumar Yadav 43; Odean Smith 4-30, Kagiso Rabada 2-29) by 12 runs