Harbhajan Singh’s stunning knock of 24 ball 64 went in vain as Mumbai Indians were beaten by Kings XI Punjab by 18 runs at the Wankhade Stadium. Chasing 177 to win, Mumbai were reduced to 46-5 at the end of 12 overs before Harbhajan and J Suchith batted extremely well to reduce the deficit.
Mumbai got off to a worst possible start as skipper Rohit Sharma was trapped plumb in front to Sandeep Sharma in the second ball of the innings and that started a slum in their batting line up. Aditya Tare too didn’t do much as he was caught by Murai Vijay off Anureet Singh. Mitchell Johnson got the wicket of his fellow Aussie Aaron Finch with a great in swinger before Ambati Rayudu and Corey Anderson were dismissed by Johnson and Akshar Patel respectively. J Suchith and Kieron Pollard did managed to salvage pride by batting throughout but Pollard was dismissed off Akshar caught by David Miller at long on for 20. It was when Harbhajan and Suchith joined together in the crease. Harbhajan smacked Rishi Dhawan and Anureet Singh out of the park consistently and didnt spare Mitchell Johnson as well. Harbhajan cruised to his fifty off 19 balls and took his side closer to a sensational win. With 18 needed off the last three balls to take the match to a super over, Harbhajan failed to connect a ball and in the very next ball he was dismissed caught by Sandeep Sharma off Anureet Singh at deep point. His innings had 5 fours and six sixes. J Suchith remained unbeaten on 34 off 21 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes.
Earlier put into bat, Kings XI Punjab were off to a great start as openers Murali Vijay and Virender Sehwag put on a 60 run partnership in the first 40 balls before Harbhajan dismissed Sehwag for a 19 ball 36. Murali Vijay scored 35 but it was skipper George Bailey’s innings that proved to be the turning point. Bailey scored an unbeaten 61 off 32 that propelled his side to a decent total. Harbhajan was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2-20 in his four overs.