02:02
Kieron Pollard gets to 300 T20 wickets: ‘Fabulous awareness, reading of the game’
Mumbai Indians 137 for 4 (Tiwary 45, Hardik 40*, Bishnoi 2-25) beat Punjab Kings 135 for 6 (Markram 42, Bumrah 2-24) by six wickets
Not for the first time this season, Punjab Kings paid the price for losing their nerve at the death. After failing to score any boundaries in the final four overs to stutter to 135 for 6, their own death bowlers leaked a combination of four fours and three sixes to the power-hitting pair of Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard from the 17th to 19th, rending the last over unnecessary as a 15-minute sequence turned a tense chase into an easy six-wicket win for Mumbai Indians.
Hardik made Kings pay for giving him an extra life on 7 in the 14th over when Harpreet Brar spilled a relatively straightforward chance above his head trying to intercept a cut at backward point off Arshdeep Singh. With momentum swinging ever so slightly to Kings after the fall of Saurabh Tiwary in the 16th for 45 to leave Indians needing 40 off the last four overs, Hardik stole it back by flicking Mohammed Shami for four and six over the leg side in the 17th. Pollard that drove a pair of misfired yorkers from Arshdeep over the off side for four and six in the 18th before a trio of boundaries from Hardik off Shami clinched the match one over later as the winning runs were spilled once again over the rope at long-on by Deepak Hooda.
More to follow..
Peter Della Penna is ESPNcricinfo’s USA correspondent @PeterDellaPenna
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo