Mumbai Indians vs Punjab Kings, 28 September 2021, 7:30 PM IST
Anil Kumble was furious in the dug out due to the defeat, Andy Flower didn’t look too pleased either. A sorry night for Punjab Kings yet again. They gave it all with the ball and despite having 137 on the board, managed to bring the equation down to 40 off 4 overs. The power and potential of Hardik and Pollard, though, proved just too good for them.
Mumbai had the worst possible start in the powerplay losing Rohit and SKY off successive deliveries, but a near 50-run stand between de Kock and Saurabh Tiwary brought a much-needed stability to the chase, and therefore, set up a perfect platform for the finishers to flourish in the end. Punjab only have themselves to blame as they failed to find a boundary after the departure of Markram and that kind of made the difference between a competitive total and a below-par one.
KL Rahul | Losing Captain:
Talking about the loss, the PBKS skipper said,”It was a great fight, but 135 was not enough on this pitch. We should have got about 170. The boys showed a lot of fight with the ball, we have done that two games in a row. The next three games will be interesting for us as the table looks interesting.
It is what it is, we haven’t been able to handle the pressure. We’ll learn more if we play more together as a team. We need to be positive. We have three games, so we need to take one game at a time. We need to go out there and enjoy ourselves. All our games in the UAE have gone down to the wire, hopefully we can build on that.”
Rohit Sharma | Winning Captain:
Finally securing a win after three consecutive losses,the MI skipper said,” We do agree that we didn’t play to our potential, but it’s a long tournament and we need to stick to our plans and reading the situations is very important and we can take a lot of confidence from that. Important not to lose the guard. The way he (Hardik) understood the situation was very crucial from a team’s perspective, it’s important for him to spend the time in the middle as he’s coming back from a injury.
It’s a tough call (on dropping Ishan Kishan) and he seems very confident and the reply you get from him was very boosting as well. Saurabh has played the perfect role today and he’s done well to nudge around in the middle overs. We are gonna back him (Ishan Kishan) as he’s a very important player for us.
The ball was coming off when we started off and the grass is coming off the surface in the middle overs and we need to adjust to the conditions. He (Pollard) is one of our key players. Crucuial part of MI for so many years. He will be happy with taking the ‘Man of the Match’ for his bowling performance.”
Kieron Pollard awarded as the Player of the Match for his all-round performance
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