Pollard, Tilak’s dismissals scuttle Mumbai’s chase as they lose 5 out of 5; Punjab win by 12 runs
PUNE: Unless they stage a spectacular turnaround from here, the Mumbai Indians can kiss their chances in IPL 2022 goodbye. Chasing 199 on a batting paradise at the MCA Stadium here on Wednesday night against Punjab Kings, the five-time champions tried hard, but finished at 186 for nine to go down in a high-scoring thriller by 12 runs.
AS IT HAPPENED
This is now MI’s fifth defeat in their first five games, and equals their worst start in IPL 2014, when they lost five in a row at the beginning of the tournament. For Punjab, this was their third win, and they have now climbed to No 3 on the table with six points after five games.
Though he was involved in running out Tilak Varma (36, 20b, 3×4, 2×6) and Keiron Pollard (10) at crucial stages in the chase, Suryakumar Yadav (43, 30b, 1X4, 4X6) kept MI in the hunt with his sparking strokeplay. However, his dismissal in the penultimate over, caught at long on off Kagiso Rabada, signalled the end of MI’s challenge.

Skipper Rohit Sharma blazed away to a 17-ball 28 (3×4, 2×6), before he top-edged a pull off Rabada and was well caught by a sprinting Vaibhav Arora. After Ishan Kishan (3) too fell early, talented youngsters Dewald Brevis (49, 25b, 4×4, 5×6) and Tilak Varma (36, 20b, 3×4, 2×6) added 84 in 41 balls for the third wicket to lead a fabulous fightback for MI.
Unleashing some sensational hitting to revive memories of his countryman AB de Villiers, South Africa’s Brevis, just a month shy of his 19th birthday, blasted Rahul Chahar for four consecutive sixes in the ninth over, besides a four. The leggie went for 29 in his first over-his costliest ever in the IPL, though he did well to bounce back from that mauling and finish with 0-44 in four overs. The Brevis-Varma partnership was broken when Brevis pulled Odean Smith to deep backward square, where Arshdeep Singh held on to the catch.

Earlier, coming out all guns blazing, Punjab Kings, displaying an entertaining, attacking brand of cricket which has become their trademark in IPL2022, thrashed a yet again clueless MI bowling to all corners of the ground while racing away to 198 for five after being asked to bat first.
After Shikhar Dhawan (70, 50b, 5×4, 3×6) and skipper Mayank Agarwal (52, 32b, 6×4, 2×6) provided them a free-flowing 97-run start off 57 balls, white-ball specialists Jitesh Sharma (30, 15b, 2×4, 2×6) and Shahrukh Khan (15, 6b, 2×6) finished off the innings in perfect fashion for Punjab, adding 46 in 16 balls to provide the icing on the cake.

That they achieved this total despite their two explosive foreign imports-Jonny Bairstow (12) and the dangerous Liam Livingstone (12) falling early in the piece, gives you an idea of the depth and firepower at Punjab’s disposal this season.
Looking determined to put his bad patch behind, Agarwal, who stroked his first half-century of the season, cut the first and third balls of the match from Basil Thampi for fours. In the second over, Dhawan danced down the track to deposit Jaydev Unadkat over long off to show that Punjab meant business, as the openers maintained a run rate of 10 an over during their entire partnership.

Agarwal greeted spinner Murugan Ashwin with a four, four and a superb six down the ground. The relentless assault by Agarwal and Dhawan saw Punjab gallop to 65-0 in six overs-the best performance by a team in the powerplay overs at Pune. Agarwal brought up his 50 off 30 balls with a six over long off from a slower ball by Tymal Mills, before much to MI’s relief, Suryakumar Yadav did well to hold on to a skier he offered in the deep off Ashwin.