Punjab Kings needed a little more than the ability to hold their nerves at the tail-end of either innings to beat Mumbai Indians by 13 runs in the Tata Indian Premier League at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. The magical moments from Jitesh Sharma with the bat, and Arshdeep Singh with the ball were backed by Atharva Taide’s reflex catch to derail Mumbai Indians’ gallant bid.
With runs flowing from the blades of Mumbai’s leading batters – Rohit Sharma, Cameron Green and Suryakumar Yadav – there was no hint of stress when they set about chasing 215. That changed only when Taide provided a twist with a superb catch lunging to his left at short mid-wicket, to end Suryakumar’s stay at the crease and silence the home crowd.
Arshdeep delivers a great final over
With 15 to defend in the final over, the unruffled Arshdeep broke the middle stump off successive deliveries, first to impose a failure on Tilak Varma and then to make Nehal Wadhera, the impact player sub, trudge back to the dug-out. With the big-striking Tim David stuck at the non-striker’s end after taking a single off the first ball, Mumbai’s aspirations came crashing down.
The home side’s chances of emerging triumphant grew when Rohit, putting behind any thoughts of errors on the field after opting to bowl first, played a characteristic knock of 44 (27 balls, four fours and three sixes) to lay a strong foundation for Mumbai to make light of a challenging target.
So, when Green (67 off 43 balls, six fours, three sixes) and Suryakumar (57, 26 balls, seven fours, three sixes) were involved in a breezy 75-run stand in six overs, it seemed all was over bar the shouting. Even after Green fell to a slower ball, skying the never-say-die Nathan Ellis to be caught in the covers, the balance was still in Mumbai’s favour.
But Arshdeep had other ideas. His last two overs saw him claim three wickets, but more importantly, concede just 11 runs. His ability to ensure that his rising heartbeat didn’t reflect in his eyes or his bowling came in handy for Punjab on a night when the team claimed their 15th victory over Mumbai.
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Curran, Harpreet and Jitesh turn on the pyrotechnics
Earlier, Sam Curran, the Punjab skipper, and Harpreet Singh Bhatia batted themselves in, denying the Mumbai Indians more headway and then stepping on the pedal as they shared a 92-run stand in eight overs. Jitesh backed them up with four sixes in his seven-ball innings of 25, to power the side past the 200-run mark.
That score seemed a distant dream when Punjab slowed down from being 70 for two in seven overs to 105 after 14 overs. This spell would have cost the team dearly had it not been for the frenzy unleased by Curran (55, 29 balls, five fours, four sixes) and Harpreet (41, 28 balls, four fours, two sixes) from the 15th over.
Chawla shines in three-over spell
Piyush Chawla, the veteran leg-spinner, has emerged the key bowler for Mumbai with his ability to not only take wickets but also tie the batters up to have a very good economy rate as well. But, rather inexplicably, Mumbai Indians did not find the need to have him bowl his fourth over. He finished with 2 for 15 in three overs and was done bowling by the midway stage.
First, he combined with Ishan Kishan, the wicket-keeper, to send the dangerous Liam Livingstone back to the dugout with some smart thinking. Spotting the batter moving forward, Chawla pushed the ball through faster and down the leg side for Kishan to pull off a brilliant leg-side stumping.
Then, he got a delivery to bounce a bit more than Taide expected. The ball ricocheted off the pad on to his elbow before dislodging the bails. Taide was coming into his own, and his departure slowed things down for Punjab. It seemed a good situation for Chawla to have a go at Curran, but that was left to the realms of fantasy.
Arjun Tendulkar comes under the pressure pump
Arjun Tendulkar caught the eye by snaring Prabhsimran Singh with a peach of a delivery. Prabhsimran sought to keep a ball of fuller length out but yorked himself, the ball slipping beneath the bat to find the shoe for a plumb leg-before verdict. He came under pressure when brought back in the 16th over, and conceded two sixes and four fours in an eight-ball over.
His 31-run over started the flurry of 96 in the final five overs. That late run-frenzy gave Punjab the belief that they had a total to defend even against Mumbai’s powerful stroke-players. And so it proved, thanks to Arshedeep’s unerring accuracy.