New Delhi, After a half-century from skipper Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan, the bowlers put on a strong performance in crucial moments as Punjab Kings recorded a 14-run victory over Mumbai Indians on Wednesday in the 17th season of the IPL T-20 cricket tournament.
With this defeat, Mumbai Indians have failed to open an account in IPL-202. This is the fifth consecutive defeat of five-time champions Mumbai Indians. The Rohit Sharma-led team has yet to win a single match. The Punjab Kings were invited to bat first on Wednesday.
Punjab batted hard and scored 15 runs for the loss of five wickets in the stipulated 20 overs. In response to which MI also performed impressively but lost the match in crucial moments.
MI scored 19 runs for the loss of nine wickets in 20 overs. MI’s batting was disappointing as he reached the target to reach the target of 16 runs. The opening jade of skipper Rohit Sharma and Ishaan Kishan once again did not give the team a start as expected.
Rohit Sharma batted aggressively from the start but could not play big innings. While Ishaan Kishan got out cheaply. The JD had a 41-run partnership with Ishaan Kishan contributing just three runs.
Rohit Sharma was dismissed for 9 off 19 balls with the help of three fours and two sixes. Javi of Daveld Bravis and Tilak Verma later took over. The Jade’s 4-run partnership gave the team hope for victory. Brewis hit four fours and five sixes off six balls.
Tilak Verma, on the other hand, scored nine runs off 20 balls, including three fours and two sixes. Apart from this, Suryakumar Yadav also batted erratically and played a 6-run innings in 50 balls in which he hit a four and four sixes. However, the aggressive innings of these three batsmen went awry.
Kieron Pollard contributed 10 and Jaydev Unadkat 18 runs. For Punjab, Oden Smith took four wickets, Kagiso Rabada two and Vaibhav Arora one. Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat first. However, Mumbai bowlers could not control Punjab’s opening jade.
Skipper Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan’s opening jade immediately batted. He laid the foundation for a big score by registering a 3-run partnership for the first wicket in just 3.5 overs. Both the batsmen managed to complete their half centuries. Murugan Ashwin broke the partnership by dismissing Mayank Agarwal.
Mayank Agarwal hit six off six balls, including six fours and two sixes. However, after Manyak’s dismissal, Shikhar continued to bat aggressively and shared a 50-run partnership with Jayne Bairstow.
Dhawan played 50 runs with the help of five fours and three sixes. Bairstow scored 17 runs. In the final overs, Jitesh Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan batted aggressively to make the team score bigger.
Jitesh Sharma scored an unbeaten 50 off 12 balls with the help of two fours and two sixes while Shah Rukh contributed 15 off six balls. For Mumbai, Basil Thampi took two wickets and Jaydev Unadkat, Jaspreet Bumrah and Murugan Ashwin took one wicket each.