Mumbai Indians 192 for 7 (Suryakumar 78, Harshal 3-31) beat Punjab Kings 183 (Ashutosh 61, Shashank 41, Bumrah 3-21) by nine runs
Mullanpur: Brilliant bowling performances by Jasprit Bumrah and Gerald Coetzee guided Mumbai Indians (MI) to a 9-run victory over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the 33rd encounter of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, here at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur, Chandigarh, on Thursday.
Chasing a mammoth total of 193 runs, PBKS didn't have the start they wanted as they lost the wicket of opener Prabhsimran Singh, who was sent back to the dressing room without opening his account in the first over of the second innings when the team score was 10.
After Prabhsimran's wicket, Rilee Rossouw came out to bat along with skipper Sam Curran.
The Kings lost their second wicket at the score of 13 when Rossouw was dismissed after scoring just 1 run, and the third wicket fell at 14 when Curran was sent back to the pavilion after scoring six runs.
At the score of 14, the Punjab side lost the fourth wicket as Liam Livingstone was dismissed after scoring just 1 run, courtesy of Gerald Coetzee's bowling.
After the fall of four wickets, the impact player Harpreet Singh Bhatia came out to the crease. Bhatia, along with Shashank Singh, built a small partnership of 35 runs as the hosts lost half of their side at the score of 49, with Bhatia being dismissed after scoring 13 runs.
After the fall of the fifth wicket, PBKS wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma came out to bat along with Shashank. Both batters were able to put on 28 runs before Jitesh was dismissed after scoring just nine runs.
After Jitesh's wicket, Ashutosh Sharma came out to bat. He, along with Shashank, put on a partnership of 34 runs before the latter was dismissed after playing a brilliant knock of 41 runs from just 25 balls, laced with three maximums and two boundaries.
Ashutosh slammed 61 runs in just 28 balls with the help of seven sixes and two fours, and Harpreet Brar (21 from 20) played crucial knocks for the side, but that was not enough to cross the line for the Punjab side as they were bowled out for 183 runs in the last over.
The pick of the bowlers for the five-time champion was Bumrah and Coetzee, who snapped three wickets each in their spell of four overs, where they conceded 21 and 32 runs, respectively. Akash Madhwal, Hardik Pandya, and Shreyas Gopal took one wicket each in their respective spells.
After winning the toss, Sam Curran's Punjab opted to field first; however, their decision did not quite go in their favour as the bowling attack of the hosts failed to take early wickets.
Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma opened for Mumbai and could only make a partnership of 18 runs. Kagiso Rabada made the first breakthrough of the match after the Proteas pacer dismissed Kishan in the third over.
Kishan displayed a sloppy performance in the game as he scored just 8 runs from 8 balls.
Suryakumar Yadav replaced Kishan on the crease and made a solid partnership with Rohit. The two batters made a partnership of 81 runs. Meanwhile, the Punjab bowlers struggled to scalp wickets.
Sam Curran bagged the crucial wicket of Rohit in the 12th over. The former MI skipper played a 36-run knock after facing 25 balls at a strike rate of 144.4. He smashed 2 fours and 3 sixes.
The Punjab skipper picked up another important wicket as he dismissed Suryakumar in the 17th over of the first innings. The star batter scored 78 runs from 53 balls at a strike rate of 147.17. He hit 7 fours and 3 sixes.
After the dismissal of Suryakumar, the visitors failed to get a hold of the game as the Punjab bowling attack started to dominate the game.
The MI skipper, Hardik Pandya, was dismissed in the 18th over by Harshal Patel. Pandya scored 10 runs on 6 balls. He could just slam a six during his time on the crease.
Meanwhile, in the last over of the first inning, MI lost three wickets.
Patel removed Tim David (14 runs from 7 balls) in the second ball of the last over, while Romario Shepherd (1 run from 2 balls) was in the fifth ball. In the last ball, Mohammad Nabi was dismissed from a run-out.
Tilak Varma (34 runs from 18 balls) was the only unbeaten MI batter who remained on the crease till the last ball of the inning and took MI to 192/7.
Harshal Patel led the PBKS bowling attack after he bagged three wickets in his four-over spell and conceded 31 runs. Meanwhile, Curran picked up two wickets.