Mumbai Indians (MI) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) played match no. 69 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) following which PBKS sealed its position in the top two giving them a shot directly in the finals as well. Batting first Mumbai Indians had set the target of 184 which was led by Suryakumar Yadav’s dynamic knock of 57 runs.
It is now decided that Mumbai will play the Eliminator while Punjab will be playing the Qualifier 1. Now all eyes will be on match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). Priyansh Arya (62) and Josh Inglis (73) smoothly chased the target and gave Punjab the much needed victory.
After the match, Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya mentioned where the team lacked and now all eyes will be on the knockout game.
“The way the wicket played, we were 20 runs short. Happens. We’ve been playing good cricket but didn’t tonight, that cost us. We’ve won five trophies, it’s always been tough. If you take the foot off the accelerator then other teams take over. The message would be simple: this is a small blip, learn from it and look forward to the knockout. It’s still fresh, will identify issues later.”
“Our batting needed to capitalise to get 20 more though. (Karn as impact sub?) Not really, we back Ashwani. Don’t think there was much difference in the pitch between the innings. Our bowling wasn’t clinical, they played good shots as well. Just want to play good cricket going forward, figure out the right template for the batting group. Not much panic though, we knew what was at stake. Nothing changes from the situation four days ago that we find ourselves back in.
