XtraTime Web Desk: Match day 13 of Indian Premier League saw Mumbai Indians facing Kings XI Punjab. Both the teams lost 2 out of their 3 games and had to win today’s match to keep the momentum in the positive side.
Batting first, Mumbai put up a very strong total of 191 runs. Rohit Sharma scored 70 runs in 45 balls. In the later part of the game, Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard scored quick runs and took Mumbai to 191. Pandya contributed 30 in just 11 balls while Pollard scored 47 in 20 deliveries.
Punjab started well but couldn’t capitalize. Pooran scored 44 of 27 balls and Mayank Agarwal scored 25 of 18 balls. The middle order of Punjab failed miserably. Bumrah, Rahul Chahar and James Pattinson took 2 wickets each as Mumbai Indians beat Kings XI Punjab by 48 runs.
It is because of his outstanding performance, Kieron Pollard was named the Man of the Match. After receiving the award, Pollard said, “Feels good. We were on the losing side last game, so we want to come out on the right side today.”
Speaking about targeting any particular over and his partnership with Hardik Pollard said, “It’s about what’s there in front of you. Look at the bowlers and see how many you want to get, 15 off the over and then you try to go hard. Today he had to come and swing and he showed his prowess. We know sky is the limit in the last 4 overs.”
Pollard is happy with the win and he’s focused on the next game. “Yes the Sharjah boundaries are small, but we got to hit them right and execute really well with the ball too. We can bask in glory for now but we have an important game coming up in a couple of days time.”
Rohit Sharma, the captain of Mumbai Indians was happy with the performance from his boys. In the post match conference Rohit said, “Was a great win. We didn’t start really well, but we always knew with the kind of attack Punjab had we wanted to capitalize. Those two guys (Pollard and Hardik Pandya) they back themselves to get the runs, it’s nice to have them in form as well.”
Rohit also gave credit to his bowlers for bowling beautifully. He said, “It wasn’t going to be easy with the ball against KXIP batting line-up. We knew we had to get early wickets and everything went to plan, credit to the bowlers. The last game the execution wasn’t exactly right at the death with the ball. So we discussed and wanted to improve.”
KXIP now lost 3 out of their 4 games. KL Rahul was disappointed with this performance and said, “Obviously disappointing. Looking back, we could’ve been three wins out of four. This game, we made some mistakes. Important we come back stronger.”
Talking about the pitch throughout the game, the captain said, “Wicket looked good with the new ball. Don’t know if it slowed up after that.”
Rahul also mentioned that another bowling all-rounder is definitely on their list. “Another bowling option would be nice – an all-rounder option who can bat and bowl well. Will be sitting with the coaches to decide if we want to play an extra bowler.”
Mayank Agarwal is new Orange cap holder. He beat Rahul to win the cap. Rahul seems pretty competitive but will be happy if he cap stays in the Punjab camp. “Until and unless that orange cap stays with Kings XI I’m happy. He’s (Agarwal) worked very hard and deserves that cap. I’m sure I’ll take it off him soon.”