His services with the ball were not needed.
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Few overs before that, the match was still evenly poised. Stokes has been modest with the bat (148 runs, strike-rate 122.31) and awful with the ball (one wicket, economy 9.8, strike-rate 120), and while the much-hyped Short and Buttler have had their moments, they haven’t come consistently enough to inspire great confidence in Rahane. Short expected the ball to come on the bat but it took the outside of the bat as Andrew Tye grabbed it at the midwicket.20:02 IST: WICKET!
But Ishan Kishan (25 off 19), Hardik (23 off 13), Rohit (24no off 15) and Krunal each performed key cameos as Mumbai recorded just their third win of the campaign.
Mumbai started 175 run chase on a positive note, scoring 38 runs in 5.3 overs, but after that opener Evin Lewis (10) departed.
While Gayle has scored 302 runs from five innings with three fifties and a century, Rahul has managed 292 runs from eight innings. Rahul, familiar with his Karnataka teammate K Gowtham’s off-spin, eked out three boundaries in the second over. It was Karun Nair who provided the good support to Rahul.
Ravichandran Ashwin-led Kings XI Punjab will look to return back to the winning ways as they host Ajinkya Rahane’s Rajasthan Royals. He tried to pull a ball that pitched outside the off-stump and saw the ball bounce into the stumps after taking an inside edge from the bat.
Royals were desperate for a strong start, but D’Arcy Short and Ajinkya Rahane hadn’t quite found their fluency this season.
Mumbai won the toss and elected to bowl, restricting KXIP to 174-6 in the process. Sanju Samson fought by Buttler’s side briefly before being dismissed for 28.
KXIP captain R Ashwin has excluded Yuvraj Singh to give a chance to Manoj Tiwary. In IPLs since 2015, he strikes at just 114.00 for the first 20 balls he’s at the crease. Also, Royals’ average Powerplay score prior to this game, fifth in the IPL. Manoj Tiwary could take his place in the side.
Tye and Stoinis both picked up a wicket in the chase but their efforts weren’t enough Pandya and Sharma secured the win with an over to spare.
Mujeeb started his magic in the 13th over as he got rid of the unsafe Ben Stokes for 12.
In the bowling department, Jofra Archer will play an important role against a strongKXIP batting line up. Afghanistan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahamn has been brilliant with the ball.
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“They are Mumbaissing him (Deepak Chahar) because sometimes when you have something that is working and when you have an injury, it is always hard”.
