In the 42nd match of VIVO IPL 2021, played between Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings, the stakes were very high. Both the teams were on 8 points each and in strong contention to acquire the fourth spot on the table.
A 6⃣-wicket victory! 👏 👏@mipaltan return to winning ways as they beat #PBKS in Abu Dhabi. 👍 👍 #VIVOIPL #MIvPBKS
Scorecard 👉 https://t.co/8u3mddWeml pic.twitter.com/lCN63QoI30
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) September 28, 2021
While Punjab came into this game on the back of a good win against SRH, Mumbai Indians were still looking for the first win of their second phase. So far, they had lost all the three matches they had played against CSK, KKR, and RCB. Mumbai Indians won the toss and decided to ball first. They had made two changes to their line-up. Sourabh Tiwary came back into the squad in place of Ishan Kishan, while Nathan Coulter-Nile replaced Adam Milne to play his first game of the second phase. While Punjab had just one chance in their squad, as Mandeep Singh came in for Mayank Agarwal, who was injured.
Punjab once again had a not the best of starts. Their openers could only accumulate 36 runs for their first wicket before Mandeep departed attempting to sweep Krunal Pandya. A lot was expected from Chris Gayle, who once again failed to make an impact on the game. The pressure of runs not coming got to captain Rahul, who pulled a slower delivery from Pollard to the short fine leg. Then Bumrah rattled the middle order by bowling some tight overs and claiming the wicket of Nicolas Pooran, another West Indian who hasn’t quite found his stride in this phase. Deepak Hooda and Aiden Markham tried to form a partnership to anchor the score towards a respectable look, but Bumrah came back to claim his second victim of the match, in the form of Deepak Hooda, who departed at the 28 off 26 balls. With the help of some very tight bowling in the last 4 overs, Mumbai Indians made sure that their counterparts were restricted to a chasable total.
All the Mumbai bowlers performed as a unit. None of them leaked runs, while Coulter-Nile gave away just 19 runs in his 4 overs. It was Bumrah and Pollard, who picked two wickets each. Chasing a small target, Mumbai had a cagy start. They lost Rohit Sharma and Surya Kumar Yadav, in the same over by Bishnoi, which was a huge jolt to their aspirations. Quinton de Kock with Sourabh Tiwary tried to stabilize the innings, and then the south African was claimed by Shami. Captain Rahul had brought him back just for that breakthrough and Shami didn’t disappoint him. Sourabh Tiwary once again tried to rebuild the innings with Hardik Pandya, who was also not in the best of his forms. Tiwary played an amazing inning of 42 off 29 that made the task all the easier for Mumbai Indians.
With 40 runs required in 4 over Hardik Pandya found some form and hit Shami for 11 runs in the over. In the next over, Pollard took over to dispatch Arshdeep out of the park, accumulating 13 runs from his over as well. With just 16 required from 12, Pandya smashed Shami around the park to finish off the game for Mumbai. This win puts Mumbai back on track for a place in the Playoff.
तोडफोड मंडळ have brought it home! 🔥💙#OneFamily #MumbaiIndians #MIvPBKS #IPL2021 @hardikpandya7 @KieronPollard55 pic.twitter.com/xo05wXkHKV
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) September 28, 2021