IPL 2021 Match 17: Bowlers, KL Rahul steer Punjab to a comfortable win over Mumbai
KL Rahul
|| India Correspondent ||
The 17th match of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Mumbai Indians (MI) was a low scoring affair and Punjab comfortably beat Mumbai.
Punjab Kings won the toss and opted to field first. While Rohit Sharma fielded with the same team, Rahul made one change - Ravi Bishnoi came in place for Murugan Ashwin.
PBKS bowlers started well with the ball as they got a big wicket - in-form Quinton de Kock in the very second over. Their first boundary came in the final ball of the 5th over when Rohit Sharma swept Moises Henriques behind the square.
However, they could only score 21 runs within the powerplay. Soon after, Ishan Kishan's struggling 6 off 17 ended by Ravi Bishnoi. However, Rohit held the fort from one end but no support from the other end made their innings tough as they could manage only 49 runs in the halfway mark.
Both Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav slowly paced up 79 runs before Bishnoi removed Yadav, who scored 33 off 27. Rohit Sharma smashed a steady fifty (63 off 52) and a quick cameo from Kieron Pollard helped Mumbai put up 131 runs in 20 overs.
While chasing 132, Punjab openers KL Rahula and Mayank Agarwal got off to a steady start. Their onslaught took the team to 53 runs in 7.1 overs before Mayank got out by Rahul Chahar after scoring 25.
However, that didn't slow down the chase as both Rahula and Chris Gayle maintained their free-flowing scoring and reached the target in 17.4 overs. While Rahul was unbeaten at 60 with 3 fours and as many sixes, Gayle scored a quick 43* off 35 with 5 fours and 2 sixes and registered a convincing win by 9 wickets.
After the win, KL Rahul said: "We don't want to get too ahead of ourselves. Slowly we are coming together as a team. The guys we have backed are slowly coming through. Bishnoi came back today and the way he bowled was brilliant. We had heard that there was a lot of dew here. I felt like that could play a part. The drier ball started to grip, when it turns it gets really hard. It was good of Chris that he got through that period. He knew whom to target.
That's what you get with Chris, not just destructive batting but also experience of playing T20 cricket. He (Bishnoi) unfortunately missed the first few games, he's worked with Anil bhai, he's been brave. He held his composure. When I know what target I am chasing, it gets easier to pace the innings. Really happy with the way I finished the innings."
