Punjab Kings beat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets to clinch top spot
Punjab's Inglis (73 off 42 balls) and Arya (62 off 35) more than made up for a sluggish start with a match-winning 109-run partnership off 59 balls to get their team home
Jaipur: Priyansh Arya displayed remarkable maturity for a rookie while Josh Inglis produced a momentum-changing knock as Punjab Kings downed Mumbai Indians by seven wickets here on Monday to seal a spot in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League.
Chasing 185, Punjab Kings could not accelerate in the powerplay but Inglis (73 off 42 balls) and Arya (62 off 35) more than made up for a sluggish start with a match-winning 109-run partnership off 59 balls to get their team home in 18.3 overs.
Captain Shreyas Iyer (26 not out off 16) hit a six off Trent Boult to complete a dominating win.
Punjab Kings bowlers had done well to limit Mumbai Indians to 184 for seven after putting them in to bat at a venue that has produced 200-plus first innings scores for majority of the season.
While both teams had already sealed their playoffs berth, the winner of this match was assured of a top-two finish in the standings, providing two chances to reach the final.
Punjab Kings, who have made the playoffs for the first time since 2014, now travel back to their home ground in Mullanpur for the Qualifier 1 scheduled on May 29.
The Eliminator will be played at the same venue on the following day. The complete playoffs line-up will be decided after the contest between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the already eliminated Lucknow Super Giants on Tuesday.
The architect of Punjab’s win was the batting duo of Arya and Inglis. The highlight of Arya’s third fifty of the season was his ability to gauge the situation and play sensibly when Inglis was going ballistic at the other end.
Arya’s knock comprised sublime drives on the off-side while Inglis was more audacious, bringing scoops and reverse scoops into play.
Earlier, Suryakumar, who has been a picture of consistency this season, broke Sachin Tendulkar’s 15-year-old record to become the highest run scorer for the Mumbai outfit in an IPL season.
The India T20 captain has amasses 640 runs thus far, bettering Tendulkar’s 618 scored in the 2010 edition.
Arshdeep Singh swung the ball both ways in the opening over of the game, troubling Ryan Rickelton (27 off 20) who managed to survive.
In the following over, Rickelton got a couple of boundaries from Kyle Jamieson, who was making his debut for Punjab Kings.
Rohit Sharma (24 off 21) was slow off the blocks before a straight hit over mid-off against Marco Jansen got him going.
Jansen, playing his final game of the season for Punjab Kings, induced a mishit from Rickelton that had the opener caught at mid-on in the sixth over.
In the absence of Yuzvendra Chahal, left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar was up to the task again in the middle overs and got the prized wicket of Rohit, whose mishit was brilliantly pouched by Nehal Wadhera at long-on.
At 106 for four in the 13th over, Punjab Kings controlled the proceedings. Hardik would have been out on the first legal ball he faced but Vijaykumar Vyshak missed a regulation return catch.
Vyshak too played a big role in keeping Mumbai Indians batters in check by removing Will Jacks and Tilak Varma in quick succession. His ploy of bowling a wide line got him the desired results in the middle overs.
The momentum shifted Mumbai Indians’ way in the penultimate over and on this occasion, Vyshak was at the receiving end as he leaked 23 runs.
Suryakumar and Naman Dhir (20 off 12) got the much-needed hits in the death overs. The 20th over from Arshdeep Singh was exactly what Punjab Kings needed to close the innings. The left-arm pacer took two wickets and gave away just three runs.
