Suryakumar Yadav’s the “Man of the match” MI’s opener Suryakumar Yadav’s 57 run knock and some useful contributions from other batsmen helped Mumbai Indians beat Kings XI Punjab by six wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Friday.
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Karun Nair has also been impressive after 209 runs from seven innings but veteran Yuvraj Singh, Aaron Finch and Mayank Agarwal are yet to make their presence felt in the middle-order.
Things went well for them upfront, as Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first. Together, Yuvraj and Axar contributed 27 from 26 balls. Unfortunately, Gayle was made to walk out just after chasing his half-century. MI’s Krunal Pandya score 31 and skipper Sharma 24 unbeaten. Both put up a 54 run partnership for the first wicket.
Gayle is 11-4 with 188Bet for top Kings runscorer against Mumbai and given his consistency it could hardly be labelled as a risky wager, particularly when his only apparent threat is KL Rahul, his opening partner.
With three titles to their name, all after 2013, MI are the most successful IPL team. Although Ishan Kishan and Hardik Pandya looked good with their shots, both of them lost their wickets soon after.
Stoinis struck Pandya for two boundaries and two sixes as 22 came in an expensive final over.
Come the fourth over of the innings bowled by Hardik Pandya and Gayle went straight to fifth gear.
South African Jean-Paul Duminy has featured in just a couple of games and played a single innings hitting 23 runs.
“After tonight’s result, I hope you have an idea why Rohit comes down the order”, said Krunal.
Talking about the bowling side, Mumbai Indians has Jasprit Bumrah, whose four overs are very crucial for the match.
Ashwin will need to think about his team’s death-bowling options before the next game and may consider bringing back Mohit Sharma, who bowled a fine last over to win Kings XI their home game against Chennai Super Kings earlier in the tournament. But Krunal and Rohit launched an unbridled assault on Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Andrew Tye and Marcus Stoinis as Mumbai reached 176 for 4 in 19 overs. KXIP added 51-3 in their last five overs, while MI managed to score 58-1 between overs 16 & 19.
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Chasing a formidable target of 175, Mumbai Indians’ openers, Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis offered a good start and provided the necessary platform to the team to chase the target. Fresh from his 18-ball half century against Delhi Daredevils, Buttler will look to replicate that showing tomorrow, albeit in a winning cause this time.
