TheSportsCampus

Kings XI Punjab dished out a brutal beating to the wanabe champions Mumbai Indians by 76 runs at Mohali on Tuesday night. Batting first, Kings XI posted a competitive 163/8 on the back of a 70-run second wicket partnership between the Aussie southpaws Adam GIlchrist (28) and Shaun Marsh (43). Munaf Patel starred with the ball for Mumbai picking up 5 wickets for 21 runs in his 4 overs. Mumbai were completely blown away in their chase, losing wickets at regular intervals as they capsized for just 87 with young Bhargav Bhat picking up 4/22 with the rest of the wickets being shared around. The win gives Punjab an outside shot of making it to the play-offs provided they can win each of their 4 remaining league games from hereon till the end of the season. 

After losing 8 tosses in a row, Tendulkar shockingly won one in Mohali and elected to bowl first. While the Mumbai side was unchanged, the home team did make one edit, bringing in Bipul Sharma at the expense of Sidharth Chitnis.

Adam Gilchrist and Paul Valthaty walked out to the centre, with not losing early wickets being their top priority. The Mumbai bowlers were spot on early on with Lasith Malinga, the IPL's chief destroyer, even hitting the Kings XI captain on the helmet. Valthaty decided to break the shackles, hitting consecutive fours over the infield. A pull through midwicket off Munaf Patel followed and Valthaty threatened to disrupt Mumbai’s night. But another attempt proved to be one too many and Patel had his revenge as Valthaty holed out at the deep midwicket boundary for 14. Gilchrist didn’t allow the loss of Valthaty to be a deterring factor and kept the score board moving. Two boundaries off the pads in the fine leg region meant that Punjab had a decent start, scoring 39 in the first six overs for the loss of just one wicket.

The home team seemed to have some luck going for them as Andrew Symonds grassed an easy chance, Gilchrist benefiting from the let off. Shaun Marsh, Punjab’s number 3 has been in very good form in this edition of the IPL and he displayed his touch very early in the innings, dispatching Dhawal Kulkarni to the fence twice in his first over. Tendulkar employed spinners from both ends in a bid to slow things down, but to no avail. Marsh used his feet to chip Suman over the inner circle before Rohit Sharma was taken to cleaners in the next over. Gilchrist danced down the track too and planted Sharma in the stands. In the same over Marsh slammed a short delivery through the cover boundary for four more. Sharma didn’t help his cause when he fired down the leg side for five wides.

At the half way stage, Punjab were going strong with the score on 86/1 and this compelled Tendulkar to turn to his most trusted lieutenant, Malinga. And the results were instant. Gilchirst (28) looked to go after a bouncer but he managed to only nick the ball to Rayudu behind the stumps. Discarded Indian stumper Dinesh Karthik came out to the middle and he attempted to carry on the assault. He started off with a lovely straight drive to Malinga before punching one off Pollard. Luck too smiled on him as Blizzard dropped a sitter in the same over. Karthik made sure that Mumbai doesn’t escape unpunished, sweeping T Suman to either side of the wicket. When the 2nd timeout was taken, Punjab had a nice launching pad for the last four overs with 124 runs on the board.

Just when Marsh (43) was looking good for another big score, Pollard took an outstanding catch to send him packing. Munaf, in the same over also accounted for the very dangerous David Hussey for a duck, much to the dismay of the home crowd. Mandeep Singh and Dinesh Karthik kept things moving, hitting a six each off Dhawal Kulkarni in the 17th over. Munaf Patel, who had been bowling brilliantly so far, got two more wickets in his final over to peg Punjab back further. In the process he also picked up his first 5-for in the IPL. His lack of pace caused the downfall of the home team, as most of his scalps were caught in the outfield resulting from mistimed hits. The lower order batsmen scored a few vital runs as Punjab managed to put up 163 on the board, quite a competitive total even against the mighty Mumbai batting line-up.

Mumbai were almost brutal at the beginning of their reply. Aiden Blizzard, who walked out to the centre in the company of skipper Sachin Tendulkar, continued from where he had left against Delhi, hitting Praveen Kumar for three consecutive boundaries. Tendulkar started off with an elegant hit through the covers, but was dismissed for 6 in the Indian seamer's next over, looping a tame catch to Shaun Marsh and that triggered a top order collapse. Rohit Sharma (5) was promoted ahead of Ambati Rayudu, but couldn’t last long. Gilchrist brought on left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma with the fielding restrictions still on and the gamble paid off. Sharma failed to connect to one going wide down the leg side and got himself stumped. Praveen Kumar gave the crowd more reasons to cheer when he had the dangerous Blizzard caught down the legside. At the end of the first six, Mumbai were struggling at 33/3.

Things went from bad to worse for Mumbai when Andrew Symonds(8), Ambati Rayudu(13) and T Suman(4) were sent back in quick succession before the halfway stage of the innings. Symonds, dropped by Gilchrist early in his innings, was runout when he and his partner were both left stranded at the same end. Rayudu found runs tough to come by and tried to break free with an ambitious pull. But he only managed to top edge it and Bipul Sharma made no mistake at mid-on. T Suman too fell cheaply, Ryan Harris this time getting his name in the wickets coloumn. Mumbai had slumped to 63/6 at the halfway stage and it was only a matter of time before the innings folded.

Harbhajan Singh and Kieron Pollard tried to muscle their way out of trouble, but a spirited bowling effort from Punjab meant they were not really allowed to get away. Pollard, who’s having an indifferent tournament, was dropped twice before he skied one and Shaun Marsh settled nicely under it. Bhargav Bhatt, a 20-year old  left arm spinner from Baroda, polished off the tail taking 4/22.

Mumbai have now suffered their third defeat of the season, all of them being blowouts. The Indians will be anxious to ensure they can find a solution to tackling an early loss of wickets. It is vital for them that players other than Tendulkar and Rayudu find some form before the play-offs and will undoubtedly look to unleash some fury when they take on the Deccan Chargers at home this Saturday.

The Kings XI on the other hand have given themselves a lifeline and will hope to increase the length of their dangling rope when they take on the Kochi Tuskers in Indore this coming Friday.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: A Blizzard, S Tendulkar, A Rayudu, R Sharma, A Symonds, K Pollard, T Suman, H Singh, D Kulkarni, L Malinga, M Patel.

Kings XI Punjab: A Gilchrist, P Valthaty, S Marsh, D Hussey, D Karthik, M Singh, B Sharma, S Srivastava, P Kumar, R Harris, B Bhatt.

Mini Scorecard:

Kings XI Punjab 163/8 (20 overs, run rate 8.15)
S Marsh 43 M Patel 5/21
D Kartik 31 L Malinga 2/24

Mumbai Indians 87 allout (12.5 overs, run rate 6.77)

K Pollard 17  B Bhatt 4/ 22
A Blizzard 15 P Kumar 2/19

Punjab win by 76 runs