Mumbai, May 16: Jasprit Bumrah once again lived up to his reputation of being the best death-overs' bowler in the business and helped Mumbai Indians defeat Kings XI Punjab by 3 runs in the must-win game for them here in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 here on Wednesday (May 16).
Defending a competitive total of 186, the hosts restricted the visitors to 183/5 and kept their play-offs hopes alive and even jumped to the fourth spot in the points table.
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Chasing 187 to win, KL Rahul once again did the bulk of scoring as he scored 60-ball 94 and blasted 10 fours and three sixes in his.
Think about Rahul & Tye...
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) May 16, 2018
33% of all the runs made,1 of every 3 sixes & 2 of every 5 fours hit by KXIP batsmen in #IPL2018 came from Rahul's bat!
Tye took one-third of all the wickets taken by KXIP bowlers.
One has orange cap, other purple one. Still team will miss out.#MIvKXIP
The Karnataka batsman shared a 111-run second wicket partnership with Aaron Finch (46) to take Punjab to the brink of a successful run chase but Bumrah scalped three wickets in his second spell to derail the chase. Kings XI were comfortably placed at 145/1 in 16 overs.
Bumrah finished his four overs by giving away just 15 runs and didn't concede a single boundary in his four overs. Bowling the 17th over he leaked just 4 runs and scalped the wickets of Finch and Marcus Stoinis (1).
KL Rahul is some player .. He needs to be playing all formats for #India .. #IPL2018
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) May 16, 2018
While bowling the all-important 19th over for Mumbai, he bagged the wicket of Rahul on the third ball of the over after bowling the first two deliveries tightly. Rahul was forced to play an ambitious shot as he tried to hit the bowler's off-cutter only to mistime it and being caught in the deep.
Bumrah’s 17th and 19th overs....didn’t concede a single boundary in his spell of four overs in a high scoring encounter on a flat pitch. Well done 👍 #MIvKXIP #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 16, 2018
Mumbai Indians thus registered their sixth win to joined Kings XI and Rajasthan Royals at 12 points in the table.
Earlier, Australian seamer Tye returned with figures of 4-0-16-4 and skipper Ravichandran Ashwin (2/18) took two wickets to restrict Mumbai Indians to 186-8. West Indian Kieron Pollard struck a blistering fifty to rescue defending champions Mumbai Indians from a mid-innings slump to a competitive 186 for 8 in the crucial game at the Wankhade stadium here.
600+ runs in a season @ 160. Only the third player after Gayle and AB to do so. K L Rahul is undoubtedly the best batsman in this...batting like a dream. #IPL #MIvKXIP
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 16, 2018
MI got off to a flying start, reaching 57-1 after five overs but they lost three wickets in quick succession, including two off successive balls, against the pace bowling of Andrew Tye (4-16) before Pollard (50 off 23 balls) and Krunal Pandya (32 off 23 balls) resurrected the stuttering innings.
Before this knock, Pollard had only scored a paltry 83 runs in 8 matches and was dropped from the playing XI but his 65-run stand with Krunal in 36 balls, steered Mumbai Indians out of trouble after they had slumped to 71/4.
I felt for Yuvraj today. One of India's greatest white-ball players. Those two balls were in his arc. There is a lesson there for all of us. That which we think is easy today, which we take for granted, will one day become difficult.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 16, 2018
Tye wrecked havoc on Mumbai's top and middle order and his victims included Evin Lewis (9), Ishan Kishan (20) and Suryakumar Yadav (27). After a cautious start, Krunal stuck two consecutive sixes and a four in the 12th over off Marcus Stonis, while Pollard followed it up with two sixes and as many fours in the next two overs.
However, just when they were looking good, Krunal threw his wicket away. But that did not dither Pollard who kept hitting his shots and raced to his fifty in just 22 balls studded with five fours and three sixes. But as the West Indian all-rounder was poised for a big score, Ravichandran Ashwin (2/18) removed him in the 16th over, bringing Punjab back into the game. Hardik Pandya (9) and Ben Cutting (4) too fell cheaply.
The Biggest take away from this IPL has to be @klrahul11 making a strong case as a serious contender for a permanent spot in the Indian Cricket Team in the limited overs format #MIvKXIP
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) May 16, 2018
Earlier, put into bat, Yadav and Lewis managed to put just 37 runs for the first wicket. Tye cleaned up Lewis. One down Kishan's stay at the crease was also cut short by Tye, who stuck in his second over. And on the very next delivery, Tye removed a set Yadav (27) as the defending champions slumped to 59/3. Skipper Rohit Sharma's (6) poor run also continued. Meanwhile, the two flood-lights went off after the 10th over and play was halted for about 12 minutes.
(With inputs from PTI)