Picture Courtesy : BCCI
Desperate for a win and with every game a crucial one Mumbai Indians managed to keep alive their play-offs chances as they beat Kings XI Punjab by 6 wickets at a thrilling encounter at Indore.
Battling for form MI skipper Rohit Sharma and Krunal Pandya fashioned the key win with their cameos. Rohit stroked an unbeaten 24 from just 15 balls, while Krunal smashed an entertaining 31 not out from 12 balls, as the duo shared a match-winning unbroken stand of 56 runs from 21 balls for the fifth wicket to take Mumbai to victory, with one over to spare.
Mumbai up to fifth from the bottom position in the points table while KXIP remained in fourth spot with five wins from eight games. Mumbai, who have now won three out of their nine games, are tied on six points with RCB, Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals.
Suryakumar Yadav (57 off 52) too made a significant contribution in the successful chase while Hardik (23 off 13) kept Mumbai going in the middle overs before Rohit and Krunal got the job done.
Earlier, Chris Gayle, continued his explosive run in the IPL with a 50 off 40 balls to propel Kings XI Punjab to 174 for six. Gayle and Lokesh Rahul (24 off 20) gave KXIP another cracking start as the destructive duo shared a 54-run stand off 40 balls. Had not Marcus Stoinis played a blinder towards the end , KXIP would have ended up way short of the expected mark. His unbeaten 15-ball 29 ensured his team reached close to 180. The 22-run last over from Pandya made all the difference with Stoinis smashing him for two sixes and as many fours.
But that was not enough in the end. Yuvraj Singh promoted to number 3 flopped again coring 14 off 14 balls. He looked out of sorts.
