Mumbai suffers fifth straight loss, Punjab takes third place in IPL 2022
After half-centuries from Mayank Agarwal (52, 32b, 6×4, 2×6) and Shikhar Dhawan (70, 50b, 5×4, 3×6) helped Punjab Kings to a aggressive 198 for 5, Kagiso Rabada (2/29) and Arshdeep Singh (0/29) delivered with the ball to beat Mumbai Indians by 12 runs on the MCA Stadium on Wednesday.
It was the fifth straight defeat for the five-time champion, which was cruising at one stage after youngsters Dewald Brevis (49, 25b, 4×4, 5×6) and Tilak Varma (36) put collectively an excellent 84-run stand off simply 41 balls for the third wicket.
Chasing 199 for victory, the Indians began poorly, shedding openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan contained in the PowerPlay overs.
Then Brevis – nicknamed ‘Child AB’ for his uncanny resemblance to AB de Villiers’ type of batting – defied his age with some sensational hitting.
After taking 9 balls to get off the mark, the 18-year-old took on leg-spinner Rahul Chahar hitting him for a boundary and 4 consecutive sixes down the bottom within the ninth over.
On the different finish, Varma too joined the get together, discovering sixes and bounds at will towards Vaibhav Arora and Odean Smith (4/30).
After Brevis was dismissed for 49, two essential run outs of Varma and Kieron Pollard attributable to mix-ups with Suryakumar Yadav on each events, harm the chase.
Suryakumar tried to make amends with a quickfire 43 however as soon as he was dismissed by Rabada, it was throughout for the Indians.
Earlier, skipper Mayank and Dhawan supplied a strong platform for the Kings after being requested to bat first, scoring 65 within the PowerPlay.
Kings skipper Mayank wasted no time in launching into pacer Basil Thampi with two very good cuts via the off-side within the first over.
The Karnataka batter launched into M. Ashwin within the fifth over subsequent, hitting the leggie for 2 boundaries and a six. Ashwin had earlier dropped Mayank, on 10, off Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling.
On the different finish, Dhawan, although not at his fluent greatest, managed to hit boundaries via intelligent upper-cuts utilizing the bounce other than scoops in the direction of fine-leg.
After Mayank’s dismissal, the Indians did effectively to drag issues again, due to some terrific bowling from Bumrah, who nailed his yorkers with missile-like precision.
Nevertheless, Jitesh Sharma supplied the much-needed fireworks throughout his unbeaten 30 off 15 balls, hitting Jaydev Unadkat for 2 sixes and two fours within the 18th over. Shahrukh Khan then hit Thampi for 2 sixes within the remaining over, which in the long run proved to be important.
