With a nick of tough luck at the beginning of the IPL season, Mumbai Indians (MI) are bringing its old, glorious, winnings to the fans, as they play further matches of the season. MI scripted their second win in four matches they have played this season. They defeated Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by 48 runs in Abu Dhabi.Let’s look at the talking points of the match.
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The Hitman ShowThe much-awaited performance from Rohit Sharma was finally seen at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Thursday. With some unstable partnerships being reciprocated from the other MI batsmen, Sharma quite craftily kept the momentum going, besides playing his big shots. He struck a massive 70 off just 45 balls, comprising three sixes and eight fours.
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Pollard-Pandya PartnershipWith little contributions from the bat of Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan, the responsibility was on Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard. MI, who did not look quite convincing till 16.1 overs, gave some thrilling end to their innings. Together, Pandya and Pollard made a 67-run stand in just 23 balls, which ignited some hope for MI.
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Economical CottrellOf all the uneconomical bowlers, it was only Cottrell, from KXIP, who hogged the light. During his spell, he leaked just 20 runs. To the utter surprise, he even bowled a maiden over, something that is a rare sight in a T20 game.
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Punjab Batting order flukesUnlike their good days, of 200 plus scores on board, KXIP batsmen kept losing wickets from the very start. Little did any solid partnership consolidate for a long time. It was Nicholas Pooran, who contributed 44 runs with 27 balls. However, without any constant support from the other end, he alone couldn’t attract the winning magnet to their side.
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Bumrah’s comebackThe death over specialist, who had an average sort of season in this IPL till now, finally proved his real sense in this match. By bowling all four overs, he had an excellent economy of 4.5) and even took a couple of wickets, with one being of the match changer of Mayank Agarwal.
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MI’s ball magicMI’s bowlers were outstanding with the ball, and it is evident from the fact that they restricted KXIP at just 143 runs, at the end of their innings. Except for Trent Boult, the other bowlers comprising James Pattinson, Hardik Pandya, Bumrah and Rahul Chahar managed an economy of mere seven.
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