Bumrah keep MI alive despite Rahul's heroics

Jasprit Bumrah again proved why he is one of the best death bowlers in the world as his 3 for 15 overshadowed KL Rahul's 94 off 60 balls and Andrew Tye's 4 for 16 to sealed a thrilling 3-run win against Kings XI Punjab to stay alive in this competition at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday (May 16). Mumbai Indians, after this win move up to number 4 in points table.

Tye ruined MI's flying start



It was Kings XI Punjab, who had won the toss and put Mumbai Indians to bat first. MI got off to flying start as Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan's early assault against Mohit Sharma and Ankit Rajpoot gave MI a solid start before Andrew Tye put them on to back foot. He was introduced in fourth over and dismissed Evin Lewis on the very first ball. After that he dismissed both Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan in back to back balls in his second over and reduced MI from 37 for no loss to 59 for 3.

He added one more wicket to his name as he got Hardik Pandya later in the innings and finished his spell with an impressive figure of 4-0-16-4, where other bowlers were struggling to get wickets.

Pollard came to rescue MI



Kieron Pollard, who had been dropped in last few matches, brought back for the must-win game in place of JP Duminy. When he came out to bat, Mumbai Indians were struggling on 71 for 4 after 8.2 overs. He began slowly but once he got set, he went after Ankit Rajpoot, smashing him for a six and two boundaries before taking Stoinis in next over for 3 consecutive boundaries. He reached to his fifty off just 22-balls and added 65-runs off 36 balls with Krunal Pandya for the fifth wicket.

He dismissed right after his fifty but all of Tye's good work was undone by that time. Krunal Pandya scored 32 runs and crucial runs from the lower order helped MI to finished with 186 for 8 after 20 overs.

Openers provided solid start before Rahul and Finch set up the innings



To chased down 187, Kings XI Punjab were hoping a good solid start from the openers knowing that their middle order wasn't in good form. Charis Gayle and KL Rahul who arguably been the best openers in this tournament. However, Gayle after scoring 18 off 11 balls but got out to Mitchell McClenaghan. He added 34 for the first wicket with KL Rahul. Gayle's wicket brought Aaron Finch at the crease and he played sensible along with Rahul. By the end of powerplay, KXIP scored 57 for 1.

The real platform for KXIP's chase was set by the Finch and Rahul. However, Finch struggled initially to middling the ball but once he got set, played some excellent shots. On the other hand, Rahul who has been in form of his life was going nicely. Both the batsmen took on MI's weakest bowlers Krunal and Hardik in the middle overs. The duo put on 111-run stand off 74 balls for the second wicket before Finch got out to Bumrah after scoring 46 runs.

MI, led by Bumrah finish it off in style

When Finch got out, KXIP still needed 42 off 23 balls and it wasn't looking difficult for Punjab knowing Rahul at the other end. However, Bumrah conceded only 4 runs in 17th over and got Finch and Marcus Stoinis five balls.

Rahul, who was going nicely brought back KXIP with 3 consecutive boundaries to Ben Cutting in 18th overs. With 23 needed off 12 balls, the game came down to Rahul vs Bumrah and in this Bumrah won the race. He came with his variation and had mistimed Rahul over the in-field straight to Hardik in the deep. He gave away only 6-runs in that over. With 17 required in last over, KXIP could manage only 13 runs and lost the match by 3-runs.

KXIP's strategy of sending Axer Patel ahead of Yuvraj Singh and Manoj Tiwary backfired them as Patel could score only 10 off 8 balls.

Jusprit Bumrah awarded Man Of The Match for his match-winning spell while KL Rahul received Orange Cap (leading run-getter) with 652 runs in 13 innings. Andrew Tye has Purple Cap (leading wicket-taker) with 24 wickets in 13 matches.

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