Dubai: Saurabh Tiwary and Hardik Pandya played crucial knocks to help Mumbai Indians seal a much-needed six-wicket win against Punjab Kings at Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Tuesday.
Chasing 136, Mumbai Indians got off to a terrible start as leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi picked up two wickets in the same over. Despite being on the losing side, Bishnoi was pick of the Punjab kings, first he dismissed Rohit Sharma for 8 and then he bowled Suryakumar Yadav next ball with a top-class googly.
However, Saurabh Tiwary and de Kock steadied MI’s chase to take the team to 54/2 after 9 overs. The two southpaws put on 45 runs for the third wickets before Mohammed Shami cleaned up de Kock on 27. Tiwary played a gem of an innings, scoring 45 to set up MI for a strong finish. Hardik finished off in style, smashing an unbeaten 30-ball 40.
तोडफोड मंडळ have brought it home! 🔥💙#OneFamily #MumbaiIndians #MIvPBKS #IPL2021 @hardikpandya7 @KieronPollard55 pic.twitter.com/xo05wXkHKV
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) September 28, 2021
Batting first, Punjab Kings ended their innings at 135/6 after MI bowlers bowled exceptionally to restrict them. Kieron Pollard, who bowled just one over, got two big wickets of KL Rahul and Chris Gayle and in the process, he also completed his 300 wickets in T20s. Apart from Pollard, Jasprit Bumrah also got two wickets. While Krunal Pandya and Rahul Chahar got one wicket each. This is MI’s fifth constructive win, with this they move ahead to the sixth spot of the points table. While Punjab Kings have dropped down to the seventh spot after enduring their sixth loss of IPL 2021.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 137/4 in 19 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 45, Hardik Pandya 40 not out; Ravi Bishnoi 2/25, Nathan Ellis 1/12) beat Punjab Kings 135/6 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 42, Deepak Hooda 28; Kieron Pollard 2/8, Jasprit Bumrah 2/24) by 6 wickets
