Published: May 14, 2016, 01:11 AM (IST)
Edited: May 14, 2016, 04:11 AM (IST)
Kings XI Punjab put up a valiant show and emerged victorious in the 43rd game of the Indian Premier League against Mumbai Indians at Visakhapatnam. KXIP won the thrilling encounter by 7 wickets and earned two points to climb to the seventh position in the points table. It was a collective effort by the KXIP team as they won the game convincingly by 7 wickets. READ MORE: KXIP row: Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Johnson, David Miller defend Shaun Marsh; lash out at media
Rohit Sharma got it right at the toss and elected to bat first. Their openers once again failed to get their team off to a god start as Unmukt Chand was dismissed for a duck. Ambati Rayudu too didn’t manage to make an impact as he was cleaned up by a beautiful yorker from Sandeep Sharma. Mohit Sharma bowled beautifully with the new ball and was instrumental in the death. MI kept losing wickets at regular wickets, a factor which didn’t help them get a big score. READ MORE: Video: Ashish Nehra’s words of wisdom to young Delhi lad Rishabh Pant
Kieron Pollard and Krunal Pandya looked good but were dismissed after getting good starts. Marcus Stoinis was phenomenal with the ball as he scalped four crucial wickets and helped his side in restricting Mumbai Indians for a mere score of 124. Harbhajan Singh garnered some priceless runs lower down the order but the total was never going to be enough to win the game.
KXIP suffered an early blow in the run chase as they lost Hashim Amla in the very first over of the game but Murali Vijay and Wriddhiman Saha stuck to their guns and carried the team over the line. Vijay remained unbeaten on 54 and played with immense confidence and played a tenacious knock. Saha after getting his eyes in shifted his gears and sealed the game for his side.
MI bowlers were clueless as they didn’t have enough runs on the board to defend. Tim Southee bowled a beautiful spell and showed why he is among the best white ball bowlers. MI now have a task in hand if they have to qualify for the playoffs and have to win almost all their games.
Turning Point: MI were defending a low total and needed early wickets with the new ball. Tim Southee drew the first blood in the form of Hashim Amla but his side failed to capitalise po the start and didn’t manage to chip more wickets. Saha and Vijay stitched a match wining partnership of 116 runs and sealed the game for their side.
Brief scorecard:
Mumbai Indians 124/9 (Kieron Pollard 27 (20), Nitish Rana 25 (28); Mitchell McClenaghan 2 for 24, Tim Southee 1 for 22) lost to Kings XI Punjab 127/3 (Wriddihiman Saha 56 (40), Murali Vijay 54* (52); Marcus Stoinis 4 for 15, Sandeep Sharma 2 for 11) by 7 wickets
Player of the Match: Marcus Stoinis.
