MI’s mission possible: Mumbai Indians survive Ashutosh onslaught to eke out win against Punjab Kings

Deepankar Sharda

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Mohali, April 18

Mumbai Indians managed to get over the line against a resilient Punjab Kings to get their third win of the IPL season but the five-time champions will surely be assessing how they almost let the match slip away from a dominant position.

After scoring 192/7, with Suryakumar Yadav lighting up the sky with a brilliant 78 off 53 balls, MI reduced the home side to 14/4 and then 77/6. But as has been the case for Punjab, Shashank Singh (41 off 25 balls) helped rebuild their innings before Ashutosh Sharma (61 of 28 balls) let loose with seven sixes to bring his team back in the contest.

Pacer Akash Madhwal, who came in as Mumbai’s impact player, conceded 24 runs off his 10-ball 15th over. However, Jaspirt Bumrah, who was named the Player of the Match for his three-wicket haul, stopped the PBKS momentum by conceding just three runs in the next over. With scoreboard pressure building on Punjab, Gerald Coetzee got the danger man Ashutosh off the first ball of the next over to virtually seal the match. Spinner Harpreet Brar (21 off 20 balls) did his best to take Punjab over the line but the hosts were bowled out for 183 in 19.1 overs.

Earlier, Suryakumar hit seven boundaries and three sixes in his second fifty of the season. Rohit, playing in his 250th IPL match, scored 36 off 35 balls, while Tilak Varma (34 off 18 balls) and Tim David (14 off 7 balls) provided the late impetus.

“Very good game. Everyone’s nerves got tested,” MI captain Hardik Pandya said. “We spoke that characters will be tested in this game. It is natural to think you are ahead but you know IPL has a tendency to show that oppositions can come back,” he added.

Brief scores

MI: 192/7 in 20 overs (Suryakumar 78, Rohit 36; Harshal 3/31, Curran 2/41) vs PBKS: 183 all out in 19.1 overs (Ashutosh 61, Shashank 41; Bumrah 3/21, Coetzee 3/32)

Wednesday’s result

GT: 89 all out in 17.3 overs (Rashid 31; Mukesh 3/14, Ishant 2/8) vs DC: 92/4 in 8.5 overs (Fraser-McGurk 20; Warrier 2/40, Rashid 1/12)