Pollard, Pandya exploits hand Punjab their third defeat

Tags: Indian T20 League 2020, Punjab XI vs Mumbai XI,13th Match at Abu Dhabi, Oct 01, 2020, Mumbai XI, Punjab XI, Kieron Adrian Pollard, Hardik Himanshu Pandya

Published on: Oct 01, 2020

Scorecard | Commentary | Graphs

Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya scored quickfire cameos at the backend of the innings and Chahar bowled a fine spell as Mumbai Indians beat Kings XI Punjab by 48 runs to top the points table.

Punjab won the toss and elected to bowl first. Sheldon Cottrell got them off to a great start as he bowled a rare wicket maiden first up, dismissing QDK for a 5 ball duck in the first over itself. Skipper Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav then played some fine shots but the run rate still stayed under 6. Yadav, found himself short of the crease while trying to take a quick single as Shami hit the stumps from short fine leg.

Ishan Kishan, who had a great last game, made his way to the crease as he watched his skipper increase the scoring rate from the other end. He himself struggled however, as he just couldn’t get the timing right. At the end of 10 overs, MI were placed at 62-2, would have hoped for a 150 run target at that stage. After a few more quiet overs, the uncomfortable Kishan got out and that changed Mumbai’s fortunes. In came Pollard and he just started smashing it from the word go. Rohit too joined the party as he smoked 21 runs off Neesham in the 16th over, bringing up his 50 in the process. He however, got out to Shami in the very next over for 70 but that meant more misery for Punjab as Hardik Pandya joined Pollard and both went berserk. 18 runs came off the 18th over and 19 off the 19th as Punjab were looking clueless. They had to go with Gowtham for the last over, and with two right handed batsmen at the crease, it was harakiri as 4 sixes came off the over. MI finished at a massive 191-4 with 89 runs coming off the last 5 overs.

Punjab made a good start in response to the target of 192, with Mayank Agarwal taking the role of the aggressor and Rahul playing second fiddle. They were at 33-0 at the end of 3 overs, but Krunal Pandya came in and bowled a tight over. Bumrah continued to tighten the screws as he bowled a one run over and also castled Agarwal in the same over. Karun Nair too went cheaply as he chopped on to his stumps off Krunal new online casino.

Rahul Chahar came to bowl after the fielding restrictions were over and spun a web with his leg spin. He first scalped Rahul, who was feeling the pressure with the required rate exactly 11 runs per over. Pooran hit a few crucial boundaries but Maxwell was all at sea against Chahar and soon lost his wicket to him. Pattinson picked up Pooran and Sarfaraz and Bumrah got rid of Neesham as the chase effectively ended for Punjab.With the required rate nearing 24, Gowtham managed to hit a handful of boundaries but it simply was too big an ask from him as his team lost by 48 runs.

Related News