Days after chasing 213 against the Rajasthan Royals, the Mumbai Indians successfully chased another 200+ target after comfortably scoring 216/4 against the Punjab Kings with seven balls to spare on Wednesday.
Having been put to bat first in Mohali, PBKS scored 214/3 thanks to an unbeaten 119-run partnership between Liam Livingstone (82) and Jitesh Sharma (49).
MI got their chase off to the worst possible start with captain Rohit Sharma for a three-ball duck. After a cameo by Cameroon Green, Ishan Kishan (75) and Suryakumar Yadav (66) took charge of the chase putting up a 116-run partnership in just 55 balls.
IPL 2023: MI chase down another 200+ total for win against PBKS; CSK vs LSG washed out in Lucknow
Despite the pair being dismissed towards the end of the chase, they had set up the platform for Tim David and Tilak Verma to finish the job with seven balls to spare.
Kishan, who picked up the player of the match award for his whirlwind innings, said that the pitch was conducive for batting and he focused on maximising its potential. “The wicket was too good to bat on and I kept for 20 overs so I knew how the wicket was playing,” Kishan said.
“And when you are chasing such totals, you need to keep the momentum by your side. I was just planning to hit the ball whenever it was in the arc I was going to go for it. I was just looking to connecting well.”
Kishan hit seven boundaries and four sixes in a stunning display of power hitting which impressed his skipper.
Sharma said, “He (Kishan) is a little man but he is quite powerful. He has got a lot of power. He practices those kind of shots that we saw on display today. So it’s all about what he does off the field and it comes out on the field. He has been working really hard on his game. Good to see him finally get those runs.”
Kishan and Yadav put up some big overs at the halfway mark. That ensured that the asking rate was always under control and MI were able to comfortably romp to victory in the end.
“I think it doesn’t matter [where the fielders are] when you are chasing 215 and they have a good bowling attack, you don’t want to take the match to the last over,” Kishan said. “We did well in the previous games and took the match to the last over and finished it well. But my game is to try to finish the match as soon as possible so that the pressure is not on the new batter who comes in. In this game you never know what’s going to happen but you have to take your chances.”
One of the biggest overs of the innings saw Kishan and Yadav hit India teammate Arshdeep Singh for 20 runs. Kishan in particular hit Singh for a huge six over midwicket before coming down the track twice to hit the ball over the bowler’s head for a couple of boundaries.
“I know he was swinging the ball pretty well and the keeper wasn’t up to the wicket so I thought about stepping out to him. That was the plan and the message from the coach as well. You need to keep the momentum going and watch the ball and play your own game,” the Jharkhand player said.
“Fitness is very important at this point of time. There are so many senior players who have set the examples for us. So we keep on training hard even if it means working out when matches are going on. But also it’s important how you eat at home, so credit goes to my mom’s food,” he added about where is power comes from.
MI will travel to Chennai to play the Chennai Super Kings on Saturday while PBKS will face the Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata on Monday.
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