In an IPL 2024 match, five-time champion Mumbai Indians defeated Punjab Kings by nine runs, despite Ashutosh Sharma’s spectacular displays.
In the IPL in Mullanpur on Thursday, Ashutosh Sharma gave the Mumbai Indians a serious fright with a remarkable 61 before the five-time winners just prevailed over Punjab Kings with a nine-run victory. Ashutosh’s 28-ball knock featured a barrage of sixes that lifted Punjab from the verge of defeat to almost the finish line. However, his removal in the 18th over saw the Mumbai Indians take back the lead. After being down to 17/4 in their pursuit of 193, Punjab rallied with the help of Ashutosh and Shashank Singh (41 off 25), finishing at 183 all-out in 19.1 overs.
Mumbai Indians batsman Suryakumar Yadav (78) was the team’s star, leading them to 192 for seven.
Mumbai had won three of their previous seven games, while Punjab had suffered their fifth straight defeat.
MI once again suffered greatly from being ordinary with the ball, even after pacers Jasprit Bumrah (3/21) and Gerald Coetzee (3/32) put on an early four-wicket burst. In his 3.1 overs, Akash Madhwal conceded 46 for one wicket.
Following early wickets, Punjab were restored to form by Shashank’s counterattack, which saw Ashutosh smash seven sixes and two fours in an incredible knock.
Leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal was hit by three sixes from right-handed batsman Shashank (1/26).
With his strokes, Ashutosh was very proficient on the leg-side.
In his crucial 20-ball 21, Harpreet Brar demonstrated that he is a formidable batsman by hitting two fours and a six in addition to lofted shots. At the top of the order, Coetzee made up for a bad start with the ball when he edged one behind to be caught by a diving Ishan Kishan, prolonging Prabhsimran Singh’s (0) miserable run.
With two consecutive hits in his opening over, Bumrah gave the Mumbai Indians total dominance.
With his off and middle stump destroyed, Rilee Rossouw (0) almost fell to the ground after the elite pacer’s fourth delivery, a devastating in-swinging yorker.
Bumrah took his second wicket off a harmless delivery later in the over thanks to a cunning review against an on-field call for a wide.
The DRS review verified that this one, which was fired down the leg, had the ball caressing Sam Curran’s (6) bat before resting into Ishan Kishan’s glove.
Then, as he defeated Liam Livingstone (1), Coetzee heaped more suffering onto the hapless Punjab.
Mumbai Indians had earlier shot themselves to a competitive score because to the hard-hitting strokes of Suryakumar and Tilak Varma (34 not out of 18) on a slow wicket.
Although MI batters had difficulty with timing on this usually low and slow surface, they managed to score the maximum amount of runs at the newest IPL stadium thus far.
The foundation was laid by Rohit (36 off 25) and Suryakumar, who put up a solid 81-run partnership for the second wicket, before Tim David (14 off 7) and Varma found their groove.
Rohit reached 6,500 runs in the IPL while participating in his 250th match.
