Image Credit- BCCI
In the Indian Premier League 2024, Punjab Kings lost to Mumbai Indians in Mullanpur by nine runs, despite Ashutosh Sharma’s valiant 28-ball 61.
When Jasprit Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee combined to leave the hosts 14 for 4 in 2.1 overs, the Kings were in danger of being bundled out for a cheap price. That soon changed to 77 for 6. However, Ashutosh and Shashank Singh gave the match new life with a 25-ball 41.
Only 25 more runs were needed for Kings with three overs remaining. But Mumbai never let up the lead after Ashutosh was bowled out at the beginning of the eighteenth over.
Suryakumar Yadav has played four innings this season and made two ducks and two half-centuries before to this game. He entered the game on Thursday at No. 3 after Ishan Kishan was dismissed by Rabada in the third over, and he quickly made an impact by hitting two consecutive fours off the same bowler. Since it wasn’t a duck, he would eventually reach the fifty threshold.
In the fifth over, Suryakumar used his wrists to put Harshal Patel out for another boundary. In the sixth over, he cut Sam Curran off the off side. In the powerplay, he and Rohit Sharma helped Mumbai reach 54 for 1.
Suryakumar had already scored his fifty in thirty-four balls by the time Rohit left. Even though his innings was abnormally slow by his norms, incorrect strokes were also forced by the two-paced surface and the change-up deliveries bowled by Arshdeep Singh and Harshal.
Tilak Varma’s dismissal of Arshdeep in the fifteenth over was necessary for Suryakumar to also emerge victorious in his recognisable, signature style. Rabada was hit for four, six, and six in the sixteenth over, following his successful review of an LBW call earlier in the over.
Coetzee had Prabhsimran Singh caught behind down the leg side in the opening over, putting the Kings on the mat early in their chase of 193. Taking the new ball, Bumrah struck immediately at the other end, dismissing rookie Rilee Rossouw for a duck and the new opener Sam Curran for six.
Batting at number four, Liam Livingstone lasted only two balls before his effort to rip off a 150 kph Coetzee delivery was cut back to the bowler. Legspinner Shreyas Gopal trapped Harpreet Singh Bhatia, turning a score of 14 for 4 into 49 for 5. Jitesh Sharma was then leg before wicket for nine by Madhwal, seeing the score rise to 77 for 6.
Shashank had kept Kings’ score moving with the occasional boundary by the time Ashutosh arrived. In the tenth over, Ashutosh hit Madhwal for a six over a superb leg, then in the eleventh, he took Romario Shepherd for four and six. He also hit a six off Hardik Pandya in the twelfth over, and in the 13th over, he swept the fast bowler for a bold six, following Bumrah’s dismissal of Shashank. After that, Ashutosh and Harpreet Brar took Coetzee for 13 runs in the fifteenth over, amassing 65 runs in the five overs.
The game was moved into the 16th over, which gave the Kings the advantage. Madhwal missed his lengths, and Ashutosh gave him back-to-back sixes as a punishment. After hitting another six, Harpreet reduced the score to 28 from four overs.
Kings needed a respectable 25 off 18, but Ashutosh and Harpreet had enough breathing room to see out Bumrah’s last over for just three runs thanks to the necessary run-rate of seven. However, Coetzee’s remarkable ability to destroy alliances struck once more, as at the beginning of the eighteenth over, he had Ashutosh caught behind deep midwicket.
Rabada hit the final ball from Hardik for a six, requiring 13 off seven balls. Still, he was run out trying to score another run next ball, and Mumbai could celebrate a great escape.