Punjab Kings broke the shackles in the last five overs of their innings to completely change the complexion of their match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede on Saturday. Mumbai tried an audacious chase, but in the end, fell short by 13 runs.
In reply to Punjab’s 214/8, Mumbai finished on 201/6.
The start to the chase wasn’t ideal for Mumbai, with Ishan Kishan falling in the second over. But first, captain Rohit Sharma (44 off 27 balls) and then a joint assault from Cameron Green (67 off 43 balls) and Suryakumar Yadav (57 off 26 balls) kept the hosts in the game. Punjab, however, kept chipping away with wickets at the right moments and that disturbed Mumbai’s rhythm.
Arshdeep Singh at the Wankhede on Saturday. PTI picture
In the end, Arshdeep Singh had to defend 16 runs. The left-armer, a rockstar in death overs, did so in style, breaking Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera’s middle stumps into two off consecutive deliveries. He gave away two runs, picking up two wickets. In a match that saw 25 sixes, he stood tall to finish with figures of 4/29.
The turnaround
Earlier, Punjab affected a stunning turnaround. After 15 overs, Punjab’s score read 118/4. But from the 16th over, bowled by Arjun Tendulkar, they plundered 31 runs and the scales tilted. They minted 96 runs from the last five overs.
Stand-in captain Sam Curran (55 off 29 balls) and Harpreet Singh (41 off 28 balls) were the architects of the storm that blew Mumbai away.
Captain’s error?
It didn’t help Mumbai that captain Rohit was somewhat clueless in his bowling changes once Punjab brought out the big shots. Rohit did not complete the full quota of overs from his two spinners — Piyush Chawla and Hrithik Shokeen — even though they bowled the best. Chawla was brilliant, finishing with 2/15 from three overs.
