IPL 6: Mumbai prevail tense win despite Miller blitz

Mumbai Indians 174/3 (Rohit Sharma 79*, Smith 33) beat Kings Xi Punjab 170 (Miller 56, Hussey 34, Harbhajan Singh 3-14) by 4 runs.

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In the Twenty20 format, you need four specialist batsmen and four specialist bowlers to dominate the opposition. Mumbai Indians have the perfect Twenty20 squad as they accomplish all the necessary features of a Twenty20 format. Rohit Sharma’s blistering innings of 79*, and Harbhajan’s three important wickets in his spell, gave Mumbai Indians a comprehensive victory against a mediocre Kings XI Punjab. Mitchell Johnson’s tidy opening spell and Harbhajan’s timely wickets sealed the game for the hosts.

Everybody in Kings XI dugout wondered on David Hussey’s decision to keep Chawla away from bowling the last over. Chawla has the ability to deceive the batsmen with the turn, but he did not get a chance to bowl the last over.  Consequently, Kings XI Punjab had to chase in excess of 8.5 runs per over. But nothing is impossible in Twenty20 format. Kings XI Punjab would have hoped for a better start as they lost two wickets within the Power Play. Mandeep Singh was yorked by Malinga and Vohra, who was lucky to survive a run-out, was caught by Pollard at backward point.

But Kings XI believed that they could chase this target if they had wickets in hand. David Hussey walked in at No.4 and played a little cameo of 34, leaving Kings XI reeling at 76/4. David Miller was not able to progress with the run-chase as he was losing his partners regularly. Azhar Mahmood, Chawla, Gurkeerat Singh and Gony did not make impact with the bat and left Miller to do the job all alone. Miller could have won the game single-handedly for Kings XI Punjab, but he desperately needed someone to hang around with him.

Miller found the gaps and was able to clear the fence when Rohit Sharma brought Pollard into the attack. When he had Chawla at the other end, he took the attack to the Mumbai Indians, but once Chawla was dismissed, things started to slow down for the Kings Xi Punjab. Praveen Kumar waylaid Mumbai Indians with two fours to reduce the equation to 29 runs off 17 balls. But Miller’s wicket in the 18th over, stymied Kings XI Punjab. But still, Praveen Kumar gave some hope for Kings XI Punjab as he struck to massive sixes in the last over to keep Kings XI Punjab in the hunt, but in the end, he holed out to Sachin Tendulkar of the last ball off the 20th over.

The result could be the impact of poor fielding from Kings XI Punjab. Kings Punjab had dropped two catches, which subsequently made the difference. You can’t afford to drop catches like what Kings XI did today. Gurkeerat Singh dropped a simple catch off Dwayne Smith and consequently, he went on to score 33 off 32 balls. They also missed a stumping chance of Pollard and dropped another catch of Pollard. These are slight things that can make the difference at the end.

David Hussey brought himself into the attack in the last over of the Mumbai Indians innings and consequently, it resulted in a 22-run over. Rohit Sharma and Pollard counter-attacked the Kings XI bowlers from the 14th over. They had a steady start as they scored only 52 runs in the first ten overs. Rohit Sharma added 88 runs for the third wicket with Pollard. Rohit struck three massive sixes in the last over to end the innings at 174 runs. Kings XI doesn’t have the power hitters besides Marsh and Miller. But Mumbai Indians fielding and bowling outclassed Kings XI Punjab.