Mumbai: Defending champions Mumbai Indians finally snapped their losing streak on the back of a collective batting effort as they defeated Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
Kieron Pollard smashed Sandeep Sharma for a six over long-off off the first ball of the final over as MI surged past Kings XI’s score of 168/5 by scoring 170/5.
Pollard remained unconquered on 28 off 12 balls and put on 44 runs in only 15 balls for the unfinished sixth wicket with Aditya Tare (16 off six balls) here.
Prior to their quick-fire partnership, Mumbai were put on the victory path by significant contributions from opener C Gautam (33), skipper Rohit Sharma (39) and Corey Anderson (35).
The dismissal of Sharma and Anderson in successive overs brought Punjab back into the game but Pollard and Tare shattered their hopes.
It was MI’s first win in six games. It was also their their first game at home in this edition and they have now extended their winning run at this venue to nine since last season.
It was Punjab’s first defeat after a glorious winning streak of five out of five.
Mumbai’s run-chase started on a none-too-promising note when they lost opener Ben Dunk in the fifth ball of the innings and also Ambati Rayudu to be down 33 for two.
Gautam, promoted up the order in yet another new opening combination for the title holders, and Rohit Sharma then repaired the innings with a stand of 47.
Anderson hit spinner Akshar Patel for three fours and a six in the 13th over to swing the game in MI’s favour. Patel conceded 20 runs in his last over for expensive figures of 0 for 40. (PTI)
Brief scores:
KXIP: 168/5, 20 overs (W Saha 59, G Maxwell 45; Harbhajan 2-34)
Mumbai: 170/5, 19.1 overs (R Sharma 39, C Anderson 35, C Gautam 33; R Dhawan 2-23, S Sharma 2-29)
