Punjab Kings' win by 9 wickets, helped them move up from the bottom spot in the points table. It's also their biggest win over Mumbai Indians.
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Everyone likes a good underdog story, especially if you are a neutral watching the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Punjab Kings (PBKS). The night witnessed the biggest upset of this year’s edition as PBKS beat the defending champions by nine wickets, with more than two overs to spare. Skipper KL Rahul played a wonderful knock as he scored 60 runs off 52 deliveries. He was brilliantly supported by Chris Gayle who smashed 43 off 35 and opener Mayank Agarwal who scored 25 off 20 balls. It is PBKS’ biggest win against MI in the competition’s history.
The PBKS batters had a tough time in getting going, but the target was not intimidating in any way, so they settled in pretty comfortably. Gayle whipped up a storm after a slow start, as he smashed the MI bowlers all around the park. Captain KL Rahul also took some time to find his momentum, but he helped his team get over the line with ease as he hit the winning boundary.
The MI bowlers were dismal, and Rohit Sharma did not seem to have a game plan ready for the PBKS chase. He used seven different bowlers in the first eight overs of the second innings, without any luck. Rahul Chahar was the only one who picked a wicket when he dismissed Mayank Agarwal, and he conceded only 19 runs in his four overs.
The Chepauk pitch lived up to its name of being notoriously unfriendly for batsmen as the MI batting lineup was restricted to a humble 131 from their 20 overs. Skipper Rohit Sharma played a fantastic knock as he scored 63 runs off 52 deliveries. The knock included five fours and two maximums. Suryakumar Yadav played a decent supporting role with his skipper, as he scored 33 runs off 27 deliveries. No other MI batsman could really get going. Kieron Pollard was the only other person who managed to reach double digits. The Chepauk track could be called unfriendly to the batsmen but MI must have felt that they should have scored some 15 or 20 odd runs more.
The PBKS bowling attack made excellent use of the slow track as they restricted a formidable MI batting lineup to just over 130 runs. Mohammed Shami and Ravi Bishnoi picked up two wickets each, and both gave away 21 runs in their four overs. Deepak Hooda and Arshdeep Singh also found themselves among the wickets as they picked one each.
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