Mumbai Indians ended their three-match losing streak on the UAE leg of the IPL. They chased down 135 with six wickets and an over to spare against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Tuesday night in Abu Dhabi. Saurabh Tiwary (45) and Hardik Pandya (40*) held the fort during the run-chase on a sluggish pitch, as the defending champions earned two crucial points to come back into contention for a spot in the Playoffs.
Chasing 136, Mumbai had a double jolt in the fourth over when Ravi Bishnoi had Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav in consecutive deliveries. Rohit miscued a slog-sweep to mid-on and the out-of-form Suryakumar bowled through the gate with a googly.
Quinton de Kock (27) and Tiwary then steadied the ship with a 45-run stand for the third wicket. However, just when they seemed to have settled down, Mohammed Shami broke the partnership in the 10th over. De Kock, who was dropped on 17 by Aiden Markram, inside edged a pull onto his stumps.
Hardik then got an early reprieve when Harpreet Brar dropped him on seven, and made full use of the lucky break and made Punjab pay.
When Nathan Ellis got Tiwary out in the 16th over, Punjab seemed to have the upper hand, but Hardik and Kieron Pollard never gave them a chance afterwards.
Pandya smashed Shami for a four and six over mid wicket off consecutive deliveries in the 17th over. This was followed by Pollard's counterattack against Arshdeep Singh, before Hardik finished things off with a flat-batted six that burst through the hands of Deepak Hooda at long on.
Earlier, put into bat, Punjab were tottering at 48/4 in the eighth over before Hooda (28) and Markram (42) rescued them with a 61-run stand. However, there were not enough power-hitters at the end, and they finished with a below-par 135 in their allotted 20 overs.
It was Pollard who triggered the Punjab collapse by picking up the prized scalps of Chris Gayle and K.L. Rahul in three balls. Rahul’s wicket allowed Pollard to become the first cricketer to do the 10,000 run-300 wicket double in T20 cricket.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 135/6 in 20 overs (Markram 42; Pollard 2-8, Jasprit Bumrah 2/24) lost to Mumbai Indians 137/4 in 19 overs (Tiwary 45; Bishnoi 2-25) by 6 wickets with 6 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Kieron Pollard.