Jaipur, May 26 (IANS) Punjab Kings scored 187/3 in 18.3 overs to defeat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Priyansh Arya (62) and Josh Inglis (73) put on a 109-run stand for the second wicket to set-up the important victory,
With this win, Punjab have virtually confirmed the first spot, citing their superior run-rate over RCB, who have a chance of levelling PBKS on points when they face LSG on Wednesday.
In the first innings, where batters failed to make much of a mark, Suryakumar Yadav’s gritty 57 led Mumbai Indians to a total of 184/7 in 20 overs against Punjab Kings at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
Yadav, who is known for his innovation and aggressive batting, has now certainly added longevity to his innings. His 57 off 39 deliveries saw him bat deep while his teammates struggled to make big scores and launched an all out attack in the death overs.
In response, Arya got their chase off on the right foot with two beautiful looking back-foot drives through cover off Trent Boult. Deepak Chahar responded with a surprise maiden but Prabhsimran Singh (13) went after him in his second over. A six and a four, coupled with another boundary through the covers by Arya, saw 16 runs coming in the fourth over.
Jasprit Bumrah delivered with Prabhsimran’s wicket when he tried to go hard on a slower delivery, which skied and saw Ashwani Kumar take a good leaping catch, redeeming himself after dropping the same batter in the previous over.
However Inglis and Arya had no intentions of letting Mumbai back in the game and what followed was an impeccable partnership, with aggression and composure on show.
The Aussie batter took charge of the innings while Arya showed maturity beyond his age by letting Inglis take the reins of the chase. Inglis smoked Chahar for a 76 metre six as Punjab Kings reached /1 by the end of the power-play.
One of the turning points of the game was the batters’ approach towards dealing with Mitchell Santner, who claimed figures of 3-11 and was instrumental in their previous clash, by smashing him for 14 runs after the power-play ended.
With the duo eating away heavily in the target, Bumrah was brought in with hopes of providing the breakthrough and although his lethal yorkers saw him go for only five off the over, Josh Inglis struck a hattrick of boundaries off Ashwani Kumar to reach the 100-run landmark in the 11th over.
Inglis raised his first IPL half-century off 29 deliveries with a single, before Arya struck Pandya for a four and a maximum on the subsequent two balls to reach his second fifty of the season in 27 balls.
Santer was reintroduced and he finally delivered with Arya’s wicket but with not too much left to defend on the scoreboard. Punjab raced towards victory and needed only 20 runs off the final three overs.
Santner struck again when the ball hit Inglis’ pads which was confirmed to be hitting the stumps after a review by MI.
Shreyas Iyer got the golden opportunity to finish the game off with a six, off Trent Boult, in the 19th over to seal the important victory.
After being put to bat first, Ryan Rickelton (27) took to an attacking approach, which saw him score three boundaries in the opening two overs while Rohit Sharma (24) struggled to get going.
With runs beginning to flow, Shreyas Iyer reintroduced Marco Jansen, after he only went for six runs in his first over, and he delivered his national team compatriot’s wicket on the first ball. A back of a length delivery saw Rickelton try to pull but he mistimed it straight to the PBKS skipper at mid-on.
Yadav took the attack to Kyle Jamieson, who was playing his first game of the season after replacing Lockie Ferguson, for two boundaries and a six for a 15-run over.
Rohit certainly struggled on the day as he knocked his way to 24 off 21 deliveries. His time at the crease came to an end when he once again tried to go after Brar but this time could only find Nehal Wadhera, who ran in from long-on to take a solid low catch.
Things went from bad to worse in the next over when Tilak Varma (1) found Arshdeep Singh at third man off Vyshak. Will Jacks (17) too fell to the right-arm medium pacer on the next ball. A full-ish delivery saw the Englihsman try to clear the long-on boundary but the ball only travelled as far as the safe hands of Jansen.
Hardik Pandya (26) could have also been sent packing for a duck but Vyshak failed to latch on to the MI’s skipper straight drive in the same over.
Pandya flexed his muscles with a six off Jansen before the Proteas quick found his edge on the next ball to dismiss the MI skipper.
With just two overs to go, Naman Dhir (20) decided to go guns blazing and started Vyshak’s final over with two maximums over long-off and deep mid-wicket. Yadav also scored two boundaries from the other end and raised his fifth half-century of the season in 34 deliveries.
Arshdeep grabbed his only wicket of the night with a short ball, dug into the surface, which Naman could not get under and pulled it towards Priyansh Arya at deep square leg. Arshdeep rounded off the innings well, giving only three runs off the final over and caught Yadav LBW on the final ball of the innings.
For the bowling side, Marco Jansen, Vijaykumar Vishak and Arshdeep Singh claimed two wickets each.
Brief Score: Mumbai Indians 184/7 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 57, Ryan Rickelton 27; Marco Jansen 2-34, Arshdeep Singh 2-28) lost to Punjab Kings 187/3 in 18.3 overs ( Josh Inglis 73, Priyansh Arya (62); Mitchel Santner 2-41, Jasprit Bumrah 1-23 ) by seven wickets.
–IANS
aaa/