Mohali: Suryakumar Yadav’s blistering 78-run knock propelled Mumbai Indians (MI) to 192/7 against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match at Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
After winning the toss Sam Curran’s Punjab opted to field first, however, their decision did not quite go in their favour as the bowling attack of the hosts failed to take early wickets. Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma opened for Mumbai and could only make a partnership of 18 runs. Kagiso Rabada made the first breakthrough of the match after the Proteas pacer dismissed Kishan in the third over.
Kishan displayed a sloppy performance in the game as he scored just 8 runs from 8 balls. Suryakumar Yadav replaced Kishan on the crease and made a solid partnership with Rohit. The two batters made a partnership of 81 runs. Meanwhile, the Punjab bowlers struggled to scalp wickets.
Sam Curran bagged the crucial wicket of Rohit in the 12th over. The former MI skipper played a 36-run knock after facing 25 balls at a strike rate of 1444. He smashed 2 fours and 3 sixes. The Punjab skipper picked up another important wicket as he dismissed Suryakumar in the 17th over of the first inning. The star batter scored 78 runs from 53 balls at a strike rate of 147.17. He hit 7 fours and 3 sixes.
After the dismissal of Suryakumar, the visitors failed to get a hold of the game as the Punjab bowling attack started to dominate the game. The MI skipper Hardik Pandya was dismissed in the 18th over by Harshal Patel. Pandya scored 10 runs from 6 balls. He could just slam one-six during his time on the crease.
Meanwhile, in the last over of the first inning, MI lost three wickets. Patel removed Tim David (14 runs from 7 balls) in the second ball of the last over, while Romario Shepherd (1 runs from 2 balls) in the fifth ball. In the last ball, Mohammad Nabi was dismissed from a runout.
Tilak Varma (34 runs from 18 balls) was the only unbeaten MI batter who remained on the crease till the last ball of the inning and took MI to 192/7. Harshal Patel led the PBKS bowling attack after he bagged three wickets in his four-over spell and gifted 31 runs. Meanwhile, Curran picked up two wickets. Punjab Kings need to make 193 runs to win the match against Mumbai Indians.
Brief score: Mumbai Indians 192/7 (Suryakumar Yadav 78, Rohit Sharma 36, Tilak Varma 34*; Harshal Patel 3/31) vs Punjab Kings.
