IPL 2020
MI scored 104 runs in the last six overs. © BCCI
At the 15-plus mark of their innings, Kings XI Punjab were slightly ahead of the Mumbai Indians. By the end of innings, they trailed the defending champs by 48 runs. That tells the story of KXIP’s third loss in all four games of its 2020 IPL campaign, in Abu Dhabi.
Slow pitch, big terrain: how did the Mumbai Indians get started?
Put to bat, the Mumbai Indians were fighting early. Quinton de Kock was thrown by a duck in the first over. Suryakumar Yadav, for the second game in a row, was out in the company of Rohit Sharma as he battled for a tight single. Ishan Kishan, who entered the game at 99, was struggling to find fluidity in his game before he was finally sent off for a 28-of-32 ball. Even when he was part of a half-century resistance with Rohit Sharma, they had consumed 56 balls for 62 runs in their third-field alliance. As its window crashed, Mumbai trailed to 83/3 at 13.1 overs. Sheldon Cottrell was the featured bowler in this phase, with figures of 20 for 1 in 4 overs.
But in the midst of them all, though scratchy, Rohit Sharma had survived.
Rohit stands tall
Rohit generally starts off slow and as the entry progresses, the score rate does too. However, on Thursday, it started with a cap. And in the following overs, there were a few more. A front foot pushes through the additional coverage region, a rear foot cuts through the point, and something else. However, in the middle he got bogged down: During 13 installments from 9 to 13, he didn’t score a single limit. However, once he took out Ravi Bishnoi’s tracker half by a six on 14, the attack began. He lifted James Neesham in the next over for a limit to raise his fifty, 40-ball, and then pitched it for 4-6-6 more. He seemed well placed for a deadly assault after that 22 hit-and-run, but he went too far trying to treat Mohammed Shami the same. Nonetheless, his 70 of 45 balls paved the way for the late charge of the Mumbai Indians.
MI’s death threat stalks KXIP
Just one match ago, the Mumbai Indians had led the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowlers for 79 runs in the last four overs. There were reasons enough for Kings XI Punjab to distrust the power-coup prowess of the Mumbai Indians, if the names of Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya were not enough on their own. Their own death miseries in bowling were exposed in their final game against the Rajasthan Royals and they entered the match having conceded the most runs by any team in the final phase of an inning, an ER of 14.34, in the current IPL. And yet they defeated Sheldon Cottrell, one of their only two front-line markers at 13th.
It might not have mattered who was bowling because even Shami ended up conceding 19 of his last over. And Cottrell had just been blunted by 30 by Tewatia in his last game. How bad could it have been? Nobody knows. It may have been a surprise to MI as well, but Hardik and Pollard, facing K Gowtham’s break in the twenty-second, weren’t complaining. They wore it for four sixes and yet Hardik wasn’t satisfied, in fact he was mad at himself for not being able to connect the two that he hadn’t.
After the third six, KL Rahul made his displeasure known. But it was always on the cards, served on a platter to the greatest hits duo by Rahul’s decision. 89 runs were scored in the last five overs, just like the night before against RCB. Pollard finished undefeated with a 47 of 20 balls and Hardik with a 30 of 11 balls as MI advanced to 191 for 4.
Was KXIP ever in hot pursuit?
Yes, in most cases they were. In fact, for more than three-quarters of their innings, they were ahead of MI’s comparative score. In 11th on himself, they had crossed 83. By 13.1 overs, they had passed the 100-run mark with Nicholas Pooran and Glenn Maxwell on the fold. Even when KL Rahul had a bad day at the bat, scoring a 17 of 19 balls, Mayank Agarwal provided the early blitz and Pooran had carried it forward to make sure MI didn’t breathe easily.
What changed?
The Mumbai Indians were much smarter and more clinical with their death by plans. By the end of the eleventh time, Jasprit Bumrah had thrown only one. She finished her spell with figures of 2 out of 18. Rahul Chahar’s insane leg breaks and Krunal Pandya’s swift left-handed gunsmiths worried Glenn Maxwell as she struggled to cross the ball. After Pooran fell on the brink of a James Pattinson angled pitch to the goalie, for a 44 of 27 balls, the rest of the hitting could never come to terms with the demands of the chase.
Some edges flew to the limits, but attempts to drag everything out of sight did not yield the desired results. The wickets fell and they only managed 34 runs in their final five overs as KXIP meekly gave up at the end, finishing 143 of 8.
Quick Scores: Mumbai Indians 191/4 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 79, Kieron Pollard 47 *; Sheldon Cottrell 1-20, Mohammed Shami 1-36) won Kings XI Punjab 143/8 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 44, Mayank Agarwal 25; Jasprit Bumrah 2-18, Rahul Chahar 2-26) by 48 races
© Cricbuzz
