Tilak, Shardul push PBKS to fifth straight loss

In a nutshell

In his first IPL match as captain, Jasprit Bumrah hoped his already-eliminated Mumbai Indians could ruffle a few teams in what remains of their campaign. They managed to do just that with excellent middle-overs bowling and a fine Tilak Varma knock, to push Punjab Kings to their fifth straight defeat.

MI had middle-overs troubles too but Tilak - and Will Jacks to an extent - rose above the challenge at the death to chase down PBKS' 200/8 on the penultimate delivery. PBKS may have started out the season as a contender for a top-two finish but have now endured an extended rut that pushes them into a mid-table tussle for a playoffs spot.

Match in phases

Brief Scores: Punjab Kings 200/8 in 20 overs [Prabhsimran Singh 57 (32), Azmatullah Omarzai 38 (17); Shardul Thakur 4-39, Deepak Chahar 2-36, Raj Bawa 1-11] lost to Mumbai Indians 205/4 [Tilak Varma 75* (32), Ryan Rickelton 48 (23), Will Jacks 25* (10)] by 6 wickets

PBKS' unconvincing start

Punjab Kings scored 55 runs in the first six overs and still looked shaky. Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh have been used to timing the life out of the shiny new ball, but that just didn't happen tonight. Dharamsala was once again a close confidante of the fast bowlers and it helped curb the two free-spirited openers. The duo was tied down to such an extent that PBKS came away from the Powerplay without hitting a single six, though they managed to get 11 fours. Several big hits were miscues that fell in the vacant acres of the field while Prabhsimran even enjoyed a slice of luck early on, when Naman Dhir dropped a sitter off Bumrah at first slip. Deepak Chahar then saw the back of Arya with a knuckleball, who committed early and had his stumps knocked back for a 17-ball 22.

Wickets, a review and a freefall in the middle

Prabhsimran made MI pay for the early reprieve, and another in the seventh over from Corbin Bosch in his own over, by starting to loosen up. Cooper Connolly hit the first six of the innings - off Raghu Sharma in the eighth over, and Prabhsimran tonked two off the spinner in his next. PBKS enjoyed a short period until the 11th over where they found a flow to their scoring, but were then pushed downhill.

Shardul Thakur led the way in triggering the turnaround. First, he had Prabhsimran caught at third man and then delivered one of the best deliveries of the season to his good friend Shreyas Iyer, getting it to shape away just a touch from length and knock back the top of off-stump.

This two-wicket over was followed by Raj Bawa cleaning up Connolly in the 13th. Suryansh Shedge arrived with the intention of turning the tide and hit a six in the same over, but he then became Shardul's third wicket as he flicked one full ball fiercely towards mid-wicket where Bawa completed a sharp catch. Corbin Bosch then trapped Shashank Singh leg before, who took back a review with him. PBKS lost half their side in the middle-overs for just 80 runs.

A push at the death

Punjab still got to 200, courtesy of Azmatullah Omarzai and smaller but key contributions from impact substitute Vishnu Vinod and Xavier Bartlett. Omarzai smashed the first of his four sixes in the 15th over and unleashed his shots at the death against Thakur. He then hit Chahar for a four and two sixes before departing in the 18th over for a 17-ball 38. Vinod and Bartlett then combined to score 33 off 15 deliveries.

Ryan Rickelton sets the tone

Rohit Sharma spent large parts of the Powerplay camped at the other end while Ryan Rickelton laid into the PBKS bowlers. Rohit also couldn't find his timing but Rickelton batted on a different plane to lay down the marker for the chase. He got started with a six off Omarzai in the second over, and then hit 15 off Marco Jansen in the next. He kept up the carnage against Bartlett and Arshdeep - hitting all four Powerplay fours and four of the five sixes in the phase. With Rohit Sharma ambling along at 12 off 15, which included the fifth six, MI just about kept up with the asking rate in that phase of play.

Middle trouble for MI too

Rickelton found the deep backward square leg fielder in the seventh over - off Omarzai, and PBKS began to dig their heels in. The last fixture at the venue saw 39 overs of all pace, but Yuzvendra Chahal showed - in the middle-overs, why that shouldn't be the way to go today. He cleaned up Rohit Sharma with a flat, quick, turning delivery and conceded just 12 runs in three overs. Jansen bounced back well from the Powerplay to go for only five in his third over and also dismissed Naman Dhir. Tilak Varma and Sherfane Rutherford took 13 off an Omarzai over but Arshdeep returned to bowl a tight 15th over worth eight runs, leaving MI to chase 72 off 30.

A 106m six and a see-sawing chase

Tilak sent a Chahal delivery over the roof with 106m six at the start of the 16th over. As many as 20 came from that over but the pendulum of momentum just kept swinging. Omarzai came back to take out Rutherford and conceded just two runs in the 17th over. But Tilak then made up for that frugality with 22 off Jansen, starting and ending that over with a six. Will Jacks chimed in too as he welcomed Arshdeep by smashing a full wide ball for a six over point. Arshdeep bounced back well but a streaky outside edge boundary took the equation down to 15 off 6.

Jacks made that 9 off 5 by hitting a straight six off Bartlett on the first ball of the final over. The strike changed over and Bartlett managed a dot to the half-centurion Tilak. But the next ball - short and wide, was hammered over extra cover for a six. Tilak then hit the winning runs - also a six - to finish on an undefeated 75 off 33. His essay included six fours and six sixes.

Where do the teams go next?

MI have a five-day break before taking on KKR in Kolkata on May 20. PBKS host RCB in the third and final league game at Dharamsala on the afternoon of May 17.