Punjab Kings’ innings was going nowhere. After 14 overs, they were 105 for 4 with Harpreet Singh Bhatia batting on 15 off 16 and Sam Curran on 8 off 12. But in the next six overs, they ransacked 109. Bhatia ended with 41 off 28, Curran 55 off 29, and Jitesh Sharma 25 off just seven. That lifted Kings to a formidable 214 for 8.

In response, Mumbai Indians were always in the contest, thanks to Rohit Sharma’s 27-ball 44 and Cameron Green’s 43-ball 67. Suryakumar Yadav then threatened to snatch the game from Kings with his blazing half-century. That’s when Arshdeep Singh rose to the occasion. He dismissed Suryakumar in the 18th over, and then with 16 required from six balls, he conceded just two while breaking the middle stumps of Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera with back-to-back deliveries.

The 13-run win took Kings to fifth position with eight points from seven games. In fact, the top five teams all have eight points each, only the net run rate separating them.

Rohit and Green keep Mumbai on track

Before his heroics at the death, Arshdeep dealt Mumbai an early below by sending back Ishan Kishan in the second over of the chase. Rohit and Green didn’t let that deter them and kept finding boundaries at regular intervals. They hit five fours and three sixes in the powerplay to take Mumbai to 54 for 1 after six overs. The pair added 76 off 50 balls before Rohit spooned a return catch to Liam Livingstone in the tenth over.

Green and Suryakumar press on further

With Mumbai needing 127 in the last ten overs, Suryakumar didn’t waste any time. He swept his third ball for a four before hitting Livingstone for a hat-trick of fours. It was a typical Suryakumar innings – he hit a 26-ball 57, with 33 of those runs coming behind square on the leg side.

At the other end, Green too switched into the next gear. In the 15th over, he hit Rahul Chahar for a six and four, bringing up his half-century in the process and reducing the equation to 66 needed from 30 balls.

Ellis and Arshdeep show their skills

Green started the 16th over by hitting Nathan Ellis, Kings’ Impact Player, for a four and six. But Ellis had him miscuing a back-of-the-hand slower one, and Curran settled under it near extra cover.

Despite that, Mumbai were very much in the contest. In fact, Suryakumar’s six and four off Curran in the 17th over put Mumbai ahead. With 40 needed from the last three overs, Tim David hit Arshdeep’s first ball – a full toss – for a six but the bowler conceded only three off the remaining five balls. One of those balls also took out Suryakumar. It was a low full toss that the batter flicked towards midwicket, where Atharva Taide leapt to his left to pluck the ball.

David still threatened to pull it off for Mumbai. In the penultimate over, he hit an Ellis full toss for a 114-metre six but apart from that, he struggled to middle the ball. In the final over, he took a single on Arshdeep’s first ball, and then spent the rest of the over at the non-striker’s end watching a death-bowling masterclass.

Prabhsimran, Taide revive the powerplay

Earlier, Kings had a quiet start after being sent in. Matthew Short tried to take on Green in the third over, flicking him over square leg for four. He eyed another boundary on the next ball, but his attempted pull failed to clear Piyush Chawla at short midwicket.

After three overs, Kings were 20 for 1. The next three, however, produced 38. Jason Behrendorff bowled a couple of short balls in the fourth, and Prabhsimran Singh duly dispatched them over the short square-leg boundary. From the other end, Taide ramped Jofra Archer for his first six.

Rohit introduced Chawla in the sixth over, and the two batters picked up a boundary each off him as well to lift Kings to 58 for 1 by the end of the powerplay.

Tendulkar, Chawla drag Kings back

It was a bit of a surprise when Arjun Tendulkar, who swung the new ball, was taken off after just one over. When he came back for his second, in the seventh of the innings, he had Prabhsimran lbw with an excellent yorker, the ball sneaking underneath the bat to hit the back shoe.

Chawla hurt Kings further with his double-strike in the tenth over. First, seeing Livingstone come down the track, he slipped one down the leg side to have him stumped. Three balls later, he beat Taide on the sweep. The ball hit the pad and went on to disturb the stumps. That left Kings 83 for 4 after ten overs.

The calm, followed by the carnage

Bhatia and Curran consolidated for a while, scoring only 22 from the next four overs. But then came the acceleration, and how. Hrithik Shokeen’s 13-run over, the 15th of the innings, was a bad omen for Mumbai. But instead of bringing back Chawla, who had figures of 2 for 15 from three overs, Rohit went ahead with Tendulkar. Curran and Bhatia smashed him for four fours and two sixes, taking 31 from the over that also featured a wide and beamer.

Two overs later, Green came in for the punishment. Curran started it with two successive sixes. After a single on the third, Green dismissed Bhatia, but Jitesh launched him for two more maximums to make it 25 from the over.

Curran brought up his fifty, off 26 balls, with a four off Archer before getting out in the same over. Jitesh wasn’t done yet, though. He hit two more sixes in the final over, bowled by Behrendorff, to take Kings to what proved to be just the winning total. (cricinfo)

Scores:

Punjab Kings

214 for 8 wickets (Sam Curran  55, Harpreet Singh  41, Atharva Taide 29; Piyush Chawla 2/15)

Mumbai Indians

201 for six wickets (Cameron Green  67, Suryakumar Yadav  57; Arshdeep Singh 4/29)