Until the last over of the game, there was a fear in Kings XI Punjab mind as the things seemed to go against them when Glenn Maxwell dropped Karn Sharma and ball went to cross the boundary rope for a six.
In addition to that, a costly 16th over from Matt Henry and slow fielding efforts from Maxwell again were enough to term Mumbai as favourites. Mohit Sharma then turned the tides in favour of his side. History repeated itself as once again Mumbai Indians sent Kings XI Punjab on a leather hunt but this time again, the result was no different as Mumbai Indians was not able to chase down a historical total.
It was Mohit Sharma who successfully defended 16 runs in the last over of the game to keep his team alive in the race for the next round of the tournament.
With this win, Kings XI Punjab is still in the race for the playoffs.
On the other hand, this loss surely was a big jitter for Rohit Shama as this loss now puts Mumbai’s domination in danger and now there is a fear that they might not end up as top two teams, depending on results of next games.
It was a disappointing loss for Mumbai Indians as this defeat is befitting to the idiom which reads as ‘So near and yet so far’.
Here is what Rohit Sharma, the skipper of Mumbai Indians said after the game –
Rohit Sharma: Disappointing, but we put up a great fight. I thought it was evenly balanced when Pollard and Hardik were batting, but once Hardik got out, it was tough for one batsman to bring out the big shots. You have to appreciate the boys for the effort. This was a fresh wicket, there was a little bit of grass covering which held the wicket together. I don’t want to be critical on the bowlers, one-off games don’t change much but moving forward we can take a lot of learning, especially on wickets like these. They were trying different things but when someone like Maxwell and Guptill go like that, it’s hard. Saha too batted superbly. As a unit, we want to move ahead in all three facets.