Mumbai Indians (MI) defeat Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by 48 runs, by winning the match they become table-toppers.
Match Score
1st Innings: Mumbai Indians (MI): 191/4 (20 overs)
2nd Innings: Kings XI Punjab(KXIP): 143/8 (20 overs)
MI lost their first wicket of Q de Kock in the first over itself. Soon after, S Yadav lost his wicket when the team's score was 21. I Kishan who was the star performer in MI's previous match struggled to score quickly but hanged in along with R Sharma for a 62 run partnership. While the wickets were falling from one end MI captain R Sharma kept playing some exquisite shots and kept scoring at a good rate from another end. Later on, in the innings, K Pollard and H Pandya did what they are known to do, took the attack to the opposition and helped MI score 191 runs in 20 overs.
In reply, KXIP's in-form players gave their team a decent start scoring 38 runs in 4.4 overs and then the Bumrah Missile bowled M Agarwal's. In the next over, K Nair got out to K Pandya and the fall of wickets continued in regular intervals to dislodge KXIP's chase. Apart from N Pooran, no other batsmen were able to withstand MI's bowling attack.
Top Performers of the Match
Batsmen:-
R Sharma (MI): 70(45)
K Pollard (MI): 47*(20)
N Pooran (KXIP): 44(27)
Bowlers:-
J Bumrah (MI): 18/2
R Chahar (MI): 26/2
S Cottrell (KXIP): 20/1
Player of the Match
K Pollard was declared Man of the Match for his innings of 47* of 20 balls at a breathtaking strike rate of 235.
Captain's Corner
R Sharma:
The captain Rohit was back to his best self. He promoted the Man in form K Pollard ahead of H Pandya and while bowling he rotated his bowlers immaculately to never let the opposition off the hook.
K L Rahul:
He made a blunder of finishing Cottrell's overs within 15 overs, yes he was taken apart by R Tewatia in the match against RR but that perhaps was the only bad over he bowled in that match. In the end, they struggled to find an able partner to bowl in the death overs along with Shami.
Overall, a pretty good performance by MI in this match. On the other end, KXIP's untested middle-order and lower-middle-order struggled to get going after the wickets of K L Rahul & M Agarwal fell.