The Mumbai Indians (MI) locked horns with Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai for their second encounter of the season. After winning the toss, MI’s stand-in skipper, Kieron Pollard decided to bowl first citing the chances of dew in the second innings. However, the Gayle storm struck in the 5th of the match itself, still, MI won a thrilling game by 3 wickets.
During the toss, the KXIP skipper, R Ashwin revealed that they have made two changes to their squad as Mayank Agarwal, and Mujeeb Ur Rahaman made way for Karun Nair and Hardus Viljoen. On the other hand, MI had a forced change as their regular skipper Rohit Sharma was injured and he was replaced by the debutant Siddhesh Lad.
WATCH – KL Rahul Badly Punishes Hardik Pandya
KXIP openers, KL Rahul and Chris Gayle had a slow start as they had scored just 20 runs in the first four overs but then came the over of Jason Behrendroff in which Gayle smashed as many as three huge sixes and a four as well. After that, both the openers added as many as 116 runs for the opening wicket before Gayle getting out in the 13 over.
Despite that partnership, KXIP only managed to reach the score of 159 after 18 runs, but then came the over of Hardik Pandya, in which Rahul smashed 25 runs in that over. In the next over, reached his maiden century of the IPL with a six and a double off Jasprit Bumrah in the final over as Kings XI ended on a daunting 197 for 4.
WATCH – David Miller Takes A Brilliant Catch To Dismiss De Kock
During the chase, Mumbai started well but they lost the debutant lad in the 4th over itself. Then, Surya Kumar Yadav added just 28 runs for the 2nd wicket with Quinton de Kock as Yadav got out in the 8th over. In the next over itself, De Kock also got out owing to a brilliant catch by David Miller.
Pollard’s knock
After the end of the 10th over, Mumbai was reeling at the 65/3 after requiring as many as 133 runs in the last 10 overs, which was almost looking impossible for the host the hosts to win the game. However, Pollard had some different plans for his team as, despite the dismissals of the Ishan Kishan and Pandya brothers in the 12th and the 16th over respectively, he kept on slogging the KXIP bowlers in regular intervals as the equation came down to MI requiring 32 off the last two overs.
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In the penultimate over of Sam Curran, Pollard smashed 17 runs with the help of two sixes and a four. The final over started with the six on a no-ball followed by a four on the free-hit ball. However, the big man got out on the third ball, still, Alzarri Joseph and Rahul Chhar took MI over the line on the final ball.
Brief score:
Mumbai Indians – 198/7 in 20 overs (K Pollard: 83, Q de Kock: 24; M Shami: 3/21) defeated Kings XI Punjab – 197/4 in 20 overs (KL Rahul: 100*, C Gayle: 63; H Pandya: 2/57) by 3 wickets.
