Chasing a massive target of 169 to win, Mumbai Indians defated Kings XI Punjab by 5 wickets at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on Saturday, to register their first win this season.
For Mumbai Indians, it was a team effort as CM Gautam, Rohit Sharma, Corey Anderson, and Kieron Pollard scored 33, 39, 35 and 38 runs respectively to hand Mumbai Indians their first win in six matches, as MI chased down the target in the last over with five deliveries to spare.
For Kings XI Punjab, Sandeep Sharma and Rishi Dhawan took two wickets each on a day when their experience bowlers struggled.
Earlier, after winning the toss and batting first Kings XI Punjab made their captains decision look a good one as they posted a mammoth score of 168/5 in their 20 allotted overs.
For Kings XI Punjab, Wriddhiman Saha top scored with a patient 59, while Maxwell played his impact knock of 45 runs. Rest of the batsmen struggled a bit as Punjab lost the momentum and ended 10-15 runs short of where they would have ideally aimed to be at after first innings.
For Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, Harbhajan Singh picked up 2 for 34 in his four allotted overs, while Corey Anderson and Malinga picked up a wicket each. The fifth wicket, which was of Sehwag, came courtesy a run-out.
At the toss, playing their first match at Wankhede Stadium this season, current champions Mumbai Indians started on the wrong note, as they lost the toss on a dry pitch. King XI Punjab skipper George Bailey chose to bat, which even Rohit Sharma would have done as well, as the local said the track is expected to get slower.
Talking of team changes, Kings XI Punjab, who remained unbeaten in the UAE, went in with the same side they played their previous match, while Mumbai Indians, on the other hand, who are yet to win this season and has lost all their matches in the UAE, made one change by bringing in fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah as Pragyan Ojha sat on the bench after a horrific performance in the previous match where he conceded. George Bailey, who seemed to be struggling in the Mumbai heat, said the heat and humidity was at a totally different compared to the UAE.
Mumbai Indians 1 A Tare, 2 Ben Dunk, 3 R Sharma, 4 A Rayudu, 5 K Pollard, 6 C Anderson, 7 CM Gautam, 8 H Singh, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Z Khan, 11 L Malinga.
Kings XI Punjab 1 Virender Sehwag, 2 Cheteshwar Pujara, 3 David Miller, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 George Bailey (capt), 6 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 7 Mitchell Johnson, 8 Rishi Dhawan, 9 Akshar Patel, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 L Balaji.