Andrew Tye pegged the Mumbai Indians back with his exceptional bowling variations; K.L. Rahul played yet another gem at the top and Aaron Finch finally made a contribution of note with the willow. Still, it was not enough to help Kings XI Punjab end Mumbai Indians' campaign and more importantly, improve its chances of making it to the Indian Premier League Playoffs.
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
In a match that was stretched well beyond the midnight, thanks to a 12-minute interruption due to floodlight failure coupled with miserable over rate by both the teams, Mumbai Indians defended a total of 186 for eight to keep its campaign alive.
The stars of the night for the home team were Kieron Pollard, who marked his return return to the team with a sterling fifty, and the ever-reliable Jasprit Bumrah. Not only did Bumrah bowl a miserly spell but most importantly, he got the prize scalp of Rahul in the penultimate over to leave Yuvraj Singh and Axar Patel a stiff task of scoring 17 runs in the last over.
HOW THEY FARED:
Mitchell McClenaghan kept his nerves to concede 13 and ensure its last game on Sunday in Delhi will not be a mere formality.
The three-run loss loss, on the other hand, will make it extremely difficult for the Kings to enter the last four since its Net Run Rate is the worst among all eight teams.
When Pollard joined Krunal Pandya in the middle, Mumbai Indians was tottering at 71 for four in the ninth over. The burly Caribbean gave a glimpse with a cover-drive off Marcus Stoinis before opening up his shoulders against Patel's left-arm spin. Krunal also upped the ante in no time as the duo's quickfire parternship had set Mumbai Indians up for a 200-plus target.
But Tye and R. Ashwin brought Kings XI into the game again. When Tye was reintroduced into the attack in the 17th over, captain Ashwin had broken the dangerous partnership, having accounted for Pollard in the previous over. The Australian then continued to bamboozle the MI lower order with his pace variations to concede just 11 runs in his last two overs. In fact, Ashwin and Tye combined to concede just 23 runs from the 16th to 19th over to ensure Mumbai Indians didn't run away with the game.
Tye, meanwhile, was at his best right through the day. Introduced into the attack in the fourth over of the evening after Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis had gotten off to another blitzkrieg, Tye sneaked through Lewis' defence off the first ball he bowled. In his next over, the last of the Powerplay, he struck off successive balls to leave MI tottering at 60 for three. He first coerced another left-hander Ishan Kishan into a skier before doing Yadav in with a short ball.
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