IPL 2019: Kieron Pollard helps MI cruise to victory against KXIP

MI's stand-in skipper Kieron Pollard en route his 83-run knock at Wankhede. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Kieron Pollard's 31-ball 83 upstaged Kings XI Punjab's KL Rahul's maiden IPL hundred as Mumbai Indians romped their way to a thrilling last ball, three-wicket victory at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday.

Chasing 198, Mumbai Indians rode to victory after successfully claiming 15 runs off the final over. The win helped Mumbai Indians take the third spot, while Punjab slipped to fourth position in the IPL points table. With two needed off the final delivery, Alzarri Joseph (15) drove Ankit Rajpoot to long-on.

KXIP's KL Rahul lifts one during his maiden IPL 100 yesterday. Pic/PTI

Ten days ago, Sam Curran was a hero for Kings XI Punjab with his hat-trick against Delhi Capitals. But yesterday, Pollard showed him who is the boss when he smashed the English pacer for 14 runs in his third over and 17 runs in his final over as he finished with 4-0-54-1. Pollard was dismissed for 83 in the final over.

Earlier, Rahul's blistering unbeaten century off just 63 balls (6x4, 6x6) helped the visitors post 197-4. KXIP openers Rahul and Chris Gayle (63 off 36 balls) made full use of the batting-friendly Wankhede Stadium track to blast their way to 100 runs in just 10.2 overs. The duo put on 116 as Kings XI Punjab totalled 197-4 in 20 overs.

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Mumbai Indians were led by Pollard since Rohit Sharma sustained a muscle spasm in his right leg on match eve. Rahul, whose first attacking stroke was a flick off pacer Joseph that went straight into the midwicket boundary, reached his half century in 41 balls. He impressively built his innings and the team's total without playing many unorthodox shots.

The Bangalore batsman, who scored half-centuries in his last games against Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad, started off with the same kind of confidence against MI.

A decisive moment in the game was when he thrashed pacer Hardik Pandya for 25 runs in the 19th over (3x6, 1x4). He even hit a six off death over specialist Jasprit Bumrah in the final over.

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