IMAGES from the IPL match between Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians played in Mullanpur on Thursday
Ashutosh Sharma gave Mumbai Indians a mighty scare with a sensational 61 before the five-time champions scraped through with a nine-run win over Punjab Kings in the IPL in Mullanpur on Thursday.
Ashutosh unleashed a flurry of sixes in his 28-ball knock which brought Punjab from the brink to near the finish line but his dismissal in the 18th over turned the game back in favour of Mumbai Indians.
Punjab, who were left tottering at 17/4 in their chase of 193 , came back roaring through Ashutosh and Shashank Singh (41 off 25) before ending at 183 all-out in 19.1 overs.
Suryakumar Yadav (78) starred with the bat for Mumbai Indians to take them to 192 for seven.
It was Mumbai's third win in seven games while Punjab's slide continued with their fifth loss in seven matches.
Despite an early four-wicket burst from pacers Jasprit Bumrah (3/21) and Gerald Coetzee (3/32), MI once again paid a heavy price of being ordinary with the ball. Akash Madhwal gave away 46 for one wicket in his 3.1 overs.
Ashutosh produced a breathtaking knock, hammering seven sixes and two fours after Shashank's counterattack brought Punjab back on track following early wickets.
The right-handed Shashank smacked each of his three sixes off leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal (1/26).
Ashutosh was adroit with his strokes particularly on the leg-side.
Harpreet Brar proved he is no mug with the bat either, as the left-handed tailender unleashed lofted hits in his vital 20–ball 21 with two fours and a six. At the top of the order, Prabhsimran Singh's (0) poor run persisted when the right-hander edged one behind to be caught by a diving Ishan Kishan, with Coetzee redeeming himself after a poor start with the ball.
Bumrah put Mumbai Indians in complete command with twin strikes in his opening over.
On his fourth delivery, the ace pacer fired a vicious in-swinging yorker which left Rilee Rossouw (0) nearly toppling over with his off and middle stump uprooted.
Later in the over, a smart review against an on-field call for a wide resulted in Bumrah bagging his second wicket off an innocuous delivery.
This one, fired down the leg, had the ball kissing Sam Curran's (6) bat before settling into Ishan Kishan's glove, which was confirmed by the DRS review.
Coetzee then piled further misery on fallible Punjab as he bounced out Liam Livingstone (1).
Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma produced gritty knocks on a sluggish wicket to fire Mumbai Indians to 192/7.
Suryakumar found his rhythm after a slow start to finish with 78 off 53 balls whereas left-handed Varma hit some lusty blows on the leg side to make 34 off a mere 18 balls.
Towards the end, Tim David blasted a seven-ball 14 to provide the visitors with late impetus.
On a typically low and slow surface here, MI batters struggled for timing yet garnered the highest total so far at IPL's newest venue.
Rohit Sharma (36 off 35) and Suryakumar provided the bedrock with a sturdy 81-run stand for the second wicket before Varma and David found their mojo. But there was disappointment in store for MI skipper Hardik Pandya, who perished for a six-ball 10.
Early on, Ishan Kishan (8) went after Rabada off a short and wide delivery outside to hit it straight to Harpreet Brar at deep thirdman.
Rohit and Suryakumar teamed up to make the most of the powerplay as MI reached 54/1 at the end of it.
Even though he did not get enough strike for the duration of his innings, Rohit looked in prime form to remain ahead of his aggressive partner Suryakumar in terms of strike-rate.
Playing in his 250th IPL match, Rohit brought up his 6,500 runs in the competition.
Before he was hit on the helmet off his own shot while looking to paddle sweep Sam Curran, Rohit also survived an on-field leg-before call through DRS. The right-hander was eventually dismissed when an outside edge was snaffled by Brar at backward point for another fine catch.
Having consumed 34 balls for his fifty, Suryakumar flourished late in the innings to top score for Mumbai.
His exchanges with Kagiso Rabada were particularly entertaining, with two of the best in business trying to battle it out on a tough surface.
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