Mumbai Indians 192 for 7 (Suryakumar 78, Harshal 3-31) beat Punjab Kings 183 all out (Ashutosh 61, Shashank 41, Bumrah 3-21) by nine runs
With three overs to go, Kings needed only 25 runs more. However, Ashutosh fell at the start of the 18th over, and Mumbai never let that advantage go. Kings were all out in the final over to suffer their fourth final-over defeat of the season, their fifth loss in all, as Mumbai climbed from ninth to seventh on the table.
Bumrah, Coetzee bowl thunderbolts
Kings were on the mat early in the 193 chase when Coetzee had Prabhsimran Singh caught behind down the leg side in the first over. From the other side, Bumrah took the new ball and struck right away, removing franchise debutant Rilee Rossouw for a duck and the new opener Sam Curran for 6.
Liam Livingstone, batting at No. 4, then lasted two balls when his attempted pull off a 150kph Coetzee delivery was sliced back to the bowler. A score of 14 for 4 soon became 49 for 5 when Harpreet Singh Bhatia was caught by legspinner Shreyas Gopal, which then became 77 for 6 when Jitesh Sharma was lbw for nine by Akash Madhwal.
The near miracle
By the time Ashutosh walked in, Shashank had already shown that the occasional boundary could keep the Kings’ score moving. Shashank pumped three sixes and two fours to make 41 in 25 balls from No. 6, but it was only when Ashutosh joined him that runs flowed from both ends.
Ashutosh hammered Madhwal for a six over fine leg in the tenth over and then took Romario Shepherd for four and six in the 11th. He clubbed Hardik Pandya for a six in the 12th too, and even after Bumrah had dismissed Shashank in the 13th, he swept the fast bowler for an audacious six in the same over. Ashutosh and Harpreet Brar then took Coetzee for a 13-run 15th over as they made 65 runs in that five-over period.
But it was the 16th over that took Kings ahead in the game for the first time in the chase. Madhwal missed his lengths and Ashutosh punished him with consecutive sixes. Harpreet smacked another six to bring the equation down to 28 off four overs.
The required run-rate of only seven gave Ashutosh and Harpreet the breathing room to see out Bumrah’s final over for only three runs, with 25 off 18 still keeping the Kings ahead. But Coetzee’s uncanny habit of breaking partnerships came through again, and he had Ashutosh pulling to deep midwicket at the start of the 18th over. Harpreet was then dismissed by Hardik in the 19th over. Rabada, the No. 11 batter, struck a six off Hardik’s last ball to make it 12 off six balls and then took two runs to make it ten off five.
However, he was run out in pursuit of another two next ball, and Mumbai celebrated their great escape.
Full report to follow
Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx
