WANKHEDE STADIUM: Two teams who have the best hard-hitting batsmen in VIVO IPL 2019, faced each other in Mumbai. The stage was set for the clash between Kings X1 Punjab and Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium. Siddharth Lad who has waited for 5 years to make his IPL debut finally got the cap from the Skipper Rohit Sharma, who missed this match due to a minor injury. Punjab also made two changes, as they brought Karun Nair and Hardous Viljoen instead of Mayank Aggarwal and Mujeeb Ur Rehman.
In the Rohit absence, it was Pollard who took the responsibility of Mumbai campaign. The Mumbai skipper won the toss and elected to bowl first.
The Duo of Gayle-Rahul for Punjab came to bat. To post a good total, these two had a huge responsibility in their shoulder. Punjab had a steady start as they post 20 runs in the first four over. Then it was Gayle who took the responsibility of scoring quick runs. In the 5th over of the match, he scored 23 runs from Behrendroff’s over. Rahul changes his gears and scored quick runs for his team. And by the end of 10 overs, they posted 93 runs without losing any wicket. Gayle Brought his fifty in style, by hitting Krunal Pandya for a huge six. After that, KL Rahul joined him as he also brought his half-century in 41 deliveries.
Gayle, who looked dangerous throughout the inning injured himself and got out on 63 runs off 32 deliveries which contained 3 fours and 7 sixes. It was Jason Behrendroff who provided this breakthrough. Punjab suddenly lost the momentum after Gayle’s dismissal. They started to lose wickets.
But, KL Rahul has some other plans. He took the responsibility to post a good total for his team. He played sensibly in the beginning and when the team needed him to deliver some big shot, he did that too. And in the final three overs, Punjab scored 54 RUNS with most of the contribution came from KL Rahul. He also Bought his Maiden Hundred in his IPL career. In his innings, he scored 6 fours and 6 sixes. Punjab posted a challenging total of 194 for the home team.
Mumbai came up with a new looking opening pair of Siddharth Lad and Quinton de Kock. Both tried to give MI a great but in the 4th over The Debutant lost his wicket as Shami bowled him through the legs. Suryakumar, who was first dropped by Miller at point by didn’t take advantage of that and got dismissed on 20runs. The stand-in skipper for today’s match Kieran Pollard promoted himself at NO.4.
Meanwhile, Mumbai was in big trouble as they lost DE KOCK and Ishan Kishan in quick succession. All the responsibility were on Pollard and Pandya brothers. But apart from No other batsman from Mumbai looked comfortable on the pitch. Shami got the key wicket of Pandya Brothers.
In the final 4 overs, Mumbai required 58 runs to clinch the victory from Punjab. Meanwhile in the 17TH over Pollard brought his fifty in just 22 balls. The stage was set for Thriller match as Mumbai required 32 in the final 2 overs. Pollard smashed 17 runs in the 19th over. Now, it was Ankit Rajpoot who was given the responsibility of defending 15 runs in front of Pollard.
Rajput started Horribly as he bowled No ball first up and conceded Six. The six was followed by four. Now it’s 4 Runs required off 4 deliveries. Twist continued as Pollard lost his wicket at Deep Mid-Wicket. With 2 required on the final delivery, Alzarri Joseph played a wonderful on-drive and took 2 runs to give his team victory.
For his Breath-taking knock, Pollard was adjourned the man of the match award for scoring 83 runs off 31 deliveries with a remarkable strike rate of 267.67