Mullanpur, Apr 18 (IANS): Top-ranked T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav brought out his trademark shots to make a fine 78 and power Mumbai Indians to a daunting 192/7 against Punjab Kings at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Cricket Stadium, here on Thursday.
On a two-paced pitch, Suryakumar hit seven fours and three sixes, showing impeccable wrist-work and collecting boundaries behind the square to hit his highest IPL score against PBKS.
He was also supported by handy knocks of 36 and 34 not out from Rohit Sharma and Tilak Varma respectively, as MI scored 77 runs in their last six overs. For PBKS, Harshal Patel and stand-in captain Sam Curran were the pick of the bowlers with spells of 3-31 and 2-41 respectively.
Electing to bowl first, Kagiso Rabada drew first blood as Ishan Kishan slashed a short ball straight to backward point in the third over. Suryakumar got off the mark by using his wrists to flick and steer Rabada for back-to-back fours, followed by taking another boundary off Harshal with a whip.
Rohit brought out his trademark pull to hit an 80-m six off Arshdeep Singh, before being trapped lbw by a dipping slower delivery from Harshal. He took a very late review, with replays showing the ball missed the stumps, thus earning him a reprieve. Rohit and Suryakumar would take a four and six each off Curran as MI ended power-play at 54/1.
Curran continued to rotate his bowlers, which ensured MI weren’t let off the hook in the middle overs. But Suryakumar continued his shot-making spree by whipping, sweeping and lofting with elan to get his fifty in 23 balls. Rohit didn’t get much of the strike after power-play, despite hitting Harshal for a six down the ground, and was even struck on the helmet by Curran, which needed a concussion test.
A ball later, he reached out to drive off a slower delivery from Curran, but sliced to backward point in the 12th over. PBKS dried up boundaries in the 12th, 13th and 14th overs, before Tilak broke the boundary drought by lofting and driving Arshdeep for successive fours. Suryakumar then drilled a drive through extra cover to collect another boundary as 15 runs came off the 15th over.
Suryakumar survived an lbw appeal off Rabada in the 16th over, and followed it up by lofting inside-out and scooping over keeper for four and six respectively. Tilak then came in to end the 18-run over with a pulled six off Rabada at deep mid-wicket. But Suryakumar fell in the next over, slicing to backward point off Curran and fell for 78 off 53 balls.
MI captain Hardik Pandya’s poor form continued as his attempt to muscle a slower short ball from Harshal found the fielder at deep mid-wicket. Tim David injected momentum in the death overs by hitting two fours and a six in the 19th over yielding 18 runs. But Harshal had a solid final over, taking out David and Romario Shepherd, with Mohammad Nabi being run-out on the final ball to keep MI eight short of 200.
Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 192/7 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 78, Rohit Sharma 36; Harshal Patel 3-31, Sam Curran 2-41) against Punjab Kings