IPL 2017: Kings XI Punjab keep their playoff hopes alive with thrilling win over Mumbai Indians

Martin Guptill timed his jump to perfection just in front of rivals Mumbai Indians dug out at the boundary line, plucking the ball from thin air to dismiss the dangerous Lendl Simmons. That out to have been a match-defining catch in favour of Kings XI Punjab at Mumbai Indians’ home ground, the Wankhede, here on Thursday.

Mumbai Indians, faced with a victory target of 231, were 99/1 in 8.4 overs when Simmons fell for a breezy 59 (32b). Three more wickets for almost next to nothing including that of Rohit Sharma, who fell yet again to a leg-spinner, did not help Mumbai Indians’ cause if they were to win and take the winning momentum going into the Play-offs.

But, in Kieron Pollard, they had match-winner who has completely changed the face of the match in the past. But, on Thursday night, Pollard stayed till the end with a 24-ball 50, but his efforts were not enough to see MI home.

Mohit Sharma’s brilliance in the last over when 16 were needed, and nine were required off the last four balls, sealed KXIP victory by seven runs to keep alive their hopes of a Play-offs place.

Mumbai Indians were set a target that no team has chased successfully ever before in 10 seasons of IPL. Neither have the successful chasers that MI are this season won anything in excess of 200 batting second since 2008.

KXIP, who came into this game with a must-win scenario, survived another day in the competition in a tall-scoring game that saw 453 runs scored in 40 overs for the loss of nine wickets.

For the second game in a row, KXIP bowlers complemented their batsmen admirably, making it difficult for MI to chase down. But they still had some expensive overs like the 27-run over including four sixes in 16th over sent down by Matt Henry.

Until Simmons was at the crease, the target was attainable. MI, needing to score almost two runs every delivery, managed to do so until the ninth over. The asking rate soared to nearly three every ball.

But MI’s fifth wicket duo of Pollard and Hardik Pandya gave MI an outside chance with 55 runs in just 21 balls. In the end, KXIP’s bowlers held the edge. 

Earlier, KXIP needed a blazing start. They wanted Martin Guptill of the yore, one known to give New Zealand blazing start in limited-overs, to come good.

KXIP needed to score in a hurry as they knew that Mumbai Indians have been a very good chasing team, having won five of their previous six matches at the Wankhede, and seven of their total nine wins, batting second.

Guptill and Wriddhiman Saha, opening together for KXIP for the first time this season, smashed MI bowlers all over to help their side reach  in just 24 balls (3.4 overs), three deliveries more than what Kolkata Knight Riders openers Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn did against Royal Challengers Bangalore last Sunday.

The first 28 minutes was full of mayhem. Guptill and Saha toyed with every bowler barring Jasprit Bumrah. They did not spare Sri Lanka’s T20 specialist Lasith Malinga as they picked him for 19 runs in his first over, and innings’ fourth. Malinga did come back into the attack but went for 45 runs in his four without any reward.

What also helped KXIP’s cause was MI opening the bowling with Hardik Pandya rather than regular new ball bowlers McClenaghan and Bumrah. The free flow of runs was arrested for a brief while when Bumrah, coming in the third over, gave only three runs.

The fall of Guptill in the fifth over, courtesy a smart catch running behind from mid-on in leg-spinner Karn Sharma’s first over, did not slow down KXIP’s onslaught. Captain Glenn Maxwell, batting at No. 3 for only the second time this IPL, carried on the momentum as he slammed sixes at will. Only the length of the shots over the fence varying, from a flat six off Harbhajan Singh to a soaring one into the Sachin Tendulkar stand.

In the chaos, Saha quietly maintained his strike over 150 with well-timed hits to the boundary. He dealt in boundaries and scored his first of three sixes to reach his 50 in 31 deliveries even as he watched painfully Maxwell bowled for a 21-ball 47.

On Saha’s shoulders rested the responsibility of ensuring that the run rate did not slip drastically. Shaun Marsh may not be a quick-scorer of the mould of Guptill or Maxwell but he rotated the strike, slamming the odd six like he did against the expensive Harbhajan over long-on or McClenaghan over mid-wicket.

Saha carried on without any fuss became another of those batsmen not to complete a century this IPL after coming within reach. Unlike Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Manan Vohra and Rahul Tripathi who all fell when within striking distance of a rare T20 hundred in the earlier matches this season, the KXIP wicketkeeper-batsman was within two hits of a hundred and had two deliveries to do them. But he managed only a single off the penultimate ball of the innings, mistiming a pull off Pandya to be stranded on 93.