Mumbai Indians kept their hopes of playoffs alive by beating Kings XI Punjab in the 34th match of VIVO IPL 2018 played at Holkar Stadium, Indore just a few minutes ago. Rohit Sharma won an important toss and invited Kings XI Punjab into bat. Apart from Chris Gayle 50, Marcus Stoinis 29, KL Rahul 24 posted a below-par total on a good batting pitch. Chasing 175, Mumbai Indians struggled but Rohit and Krunal Pandya helped MI go past winning line.
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first. The explosive opening pair of KL Rahul looked aggressive right from start putting pressure on Mumbai Indian bowlers. Chris Gayle also played with positive intent. At the end of 6 overs, Kings XI Punjab scored 49 for 0.
After the power play overs, Mayank Markande got the breakthrough dismissing dangerous KL Rahul for 24 runs. The Mumbai Indians bowled good line and lengths to Kings XI Punjab batsmen. Gayle reached his 4th half-century of the tournament off 38 balls. Soon after, Cutting got the big wicket of Chris Gayle for 50 runs.
Mumbai Indian bowlers continued to pick wickets at regular intervals. Yuvraj Singh again failed to contribute scoring just 14 off 14 balls. Karun Nair made 23 off 12 balls and was dismissed by McClenaghan. Axar Patel contributed 13 off 12 balls.
Marcus Stoinis played a cameo knock scoring 29 off 15 balls to post 174 for 6 in 20 overs. Hardik Pandya gave 22 runs in the last over to give some momentum for Kings XI Punjab.  For Mumbai Indians, Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell McClenaghan, Hardik Pandya, Markande and Ben Cutting took 1 wicket each. Jasprit Bumrah was brilliant giving away just 19 runs in 4 overs.
Chasing 175 runs, Mumbai Indian openers Evin Lewis struggled while Surya Kumar Yadav looked positive. Mujeeb Ur Rahaman dismissed Lewis for 10 runs. At the end of 6 overs, Mumbai Indians scored 39 runs for 1.
After the power play overs, Ishan Kishan struggled against Kings XI Punjab bowlers while Surya Kumar Yadav continued to play with positive intent and reached his half-century off 34 balls. The pressure built on Surya Kumar Yadav and lost his wicket for 57 runs.
Ishan Kishan played some wonderful strokes and was dismissed by Mujeeb Ur Rahaman for 25 runs. Hardik Pandya who came at number 4 played a cameo innings scoring 23 off 13 balls. Rohit Sharma and Krunal Pandya played some brilliant shots putting on unbeaten 56 runs to give Mumbai Indians a 6 wicket win with 6 balls to spare.
Krunal Pandya remained not out on 31 off 12 balls while Rohit Sharma not out on 24 off 15 balls.
For Kings XI Punjab, Mujeeb Ur Rahman was the pick of bowlers with 2 wickets.
MI 176 for 4 in 19 overs ( Surya Kumar Yadav 57, Krunal Pandya 31*, Mujeeb Ur Rahman 2/37) beat
KXIP 174 for 6 in 20 overs ( Chris Gayle 50, Marcus Stoinis 29*, KL Rahul 24, Jasprit Bumrah 1/19) by 6 wickets.
KXIP captain R Ashwin said: The wicket was sticky. Not enough runs on the board. The pitch was good to bat on in the 2nd innings. This tournament is not easy and bowlers fought well. Need our batsmen to score big runs for putting pressure on the oppositions.
MI captain Rohit Sharma said: We are still alive in the tournament. It was a good collective performance by our team and needed this win. The way we went about the chase, it was needed some needed momentum. Hardik Pandya came before to hit big shots so that I can finish the match well.
Man of the match Surya Kumar Yadav said: I am enjoying my new role as an opener. The score we were chasing was not big enough on this good batting pitch. Trying to keep the things simple and wanted to continue the momentum.
Mumbai Indians register their 3rd win of the tournament.
The first match of the day will see CSK versus RCB at MCA Stadium, Pune while SRH will take on DD at Hyderabad in second match tomorrow.
