Mayank Agarwal, Shikhar Dhawan’s 97-run stand, Kagiso Rabada’s 2-29 and Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma’s 84-run partnership are top performances from MI vs PBKS game, IPL 2022.
Fifth straight loss for five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI); Punjab Kings (PBKS) move to third place as six teams find themselves locked at six points
Brief Scores: PBKS 198-5 (Dhawan 70, Agarwal 52, Thampi 47/2) beat MI 186-9 (Brevis 49, Yadav 43, Odean Smith 30/4, Rabada 29/2) by 12 runs
Player of the match: Mayank Agarwal 52 runs off 32 balls & two catches
Mumbai Indians, who are placed at the bottom of the points table, locked horns with Punjab Kings at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune on Wednesday.
These two teams have faced each other 29 times in IPL, in which Mumbai won 15 games, whereas Punjab Kings won 12 games, with one match tied.
Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field first. They dropped Ramandeep Singh to include Tymal Mills in the playing eleven, whereas Mayank Agarwal-led Punjab Kings kept the same playing eleven as their previous game.
Punjab Kings won by 12 runs
PBKS openers Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal added 97 runs for the first wicket and completed their half-centuries. The whirlwind finish provided by youngster Jitesh Sharma and Shahrukh Khan helped their side to reach a huge total of 198-5 runs in 20 overs.
Mumbai lost two wickets early in the innings, however, an explosive partnership between Dewald Brevis and Tilak Varma gave Mumbai a fighting chance in the game. In the second half of the innings, Suryakumar Yadav tried his best to reach close to the target but his wicket brought the downfall of Mumbai Indians, who sunk to five straight losses in this season of IPL.
Let’s take a look at the top three performances from MI and PBKS game, IPL 2022:
Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan launch a lightning start for PBKS
Agarwal and Dhawan kicked off the PBKS innings positively by carving boundaries. Agarwal pummelled two boundaries in the first over of the innings. He continued to play freely by showering boundaries to all parts of the ground.
When Mumbai brought the spinners into the attack, Mayank hammered two boundaries and one humongous six in an over bowled by leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin. He completed his maiden fifty in this season of IPL off just 29 deliveries. Mayank got dismissed by Murugan Ashwin on a personal score of 52. He cracked six fours and two sixes in his explosive knock as the opener added 97 runs with his batting partner Dhawan.
Dhawan played second fiddle to Agarwal till the latter got out. After reaching his fifty, he carried the innings on his shoulders. In the final overs of the innings, Dhawan went for a big stroke but got caught by Kieron Pollard at long on. He made 70 runs off 50 deliveries with the help of five fours and three sixes.
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Dewald Brevis and Tilak Varma bailed out Mumbai Indians
While chasing a huge target of 199 runs, Mumbai Indians lost two key wickets of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan in just five overs. In this pitiful condition, youngsters Tilak Varma and Dewald Brevis stitched a phenomenal partnership of 84 runs to rescue their side. Brevis smashed two back-to-back boundaries off pacer Arshdeep Singh. Varma also joined Brevis in smashing opponent bowlers by pummeling two fours in an over of Liam Livingstone.
In this partnership, Brevis created mayhem at the ground by launching four back-to-back sixes in an over by leggie Rahul Chahar. He gathered a staggering 29 runs in that over bowled by the young Indian leg-spinner. Both batters brought up 100 runs for Mumbai. However, Brevis couldn’t convert his whirlwind knock into a fifty. Pacer Odean Smith dismissed him on a personal score of 49. Brevis cracked four boundaries and five elephantine sixes in his breath-taking innings.
Tilak Varma suffered an unfortunate run out due to a mix-up with his partner Suryakumar Yadav. The 19-year-old batter made 36 runs off 20 deliveries with the help of three fours and two sixes.
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Kagiso Rabada halts Mumbai’s chance of getting their first win in this season
Protea premier pacer Kagiso Rabada dismissed dangerous-looking Rohit Sharma by bowling a quick bouncer. Rohit could have taken the game away from Punjab due to his spectacular hitting in the powerplay. However, Rabada used his experience to send back Rohit to the dugout on a personal score of 28.
He returned for another spell in the fifteenth over and conceded only 8 runs off explosive batters, Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard. He bowled the vital penultimate over in the innings and bagged the all-important wicket of Suryakumar Yadav, who was playing a quickfire innings to help his side reach close to the target. Rabada played a vital role in stopping the opponents from reaching the target by taking important wickets of Rohit and Suryakumar.
Read More: IPL 2022: Tilak Varma’s journey from back lanes of Hyderabad to the high streets of Maximum City
IPL 2022 Points Table
What’s to come
Table-toppers Rajasthan Royals will play against fifth-placed Gujarat Titans at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai on April 14.
Here are some of the top twitter reaction from MI vs PBKS game, IPL 2022:
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