Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians - Match 13

Right then! We have had a pretty one-sided game as Mumbai have been dominant and have not let Punjab crawl back into the game at any point. Mumbai have played well and they will look to take this forward when they play their next game in Sharjah and Punjab will be disappointed as they have played well but have just won one single game out of their three games and they will want to bounce back in their next encounter. The action continues on Friday, 2nd October 2020 as Chennai and Hyderabad will battle it out and it will begin at 1930 IST. Until then, take care and cheers! 

The Man of the Match is Kieron Pollard. He starts off by saying that it feels good and they were on the losing side last game and so they wanted to come out and be on the right side of the result. Adds that he tries to pick his bowlers and try to look for 15 runs and more and he looks to go hard. Praises Hardik Pandya as it is good to see him strike the ball well and he had to come out today and swing and he showed his prowess. Talking about their next game in Sharjah, he says that the boundaries are small and they are looking forward to it but they will have to come out and execute with the ball really well. Wants to focus on the next game and try to gain 2 points for the team.

Rohit Sharma says it is a great win, they did not start well but they knew they could make up at the back end. They did most of the things right, not initially but overall. States Pollard and Pandya back themselves to score quickly towards the end and it is good to have them in form. Further adds they have a balanced side and they are happy with the way they are playing. Also says they needed early wickets, they had plans and they did well to execute it. Ends by saying there was no execution in the last game, they had a discussion, they had a different plan as it was a different opposition and it went well.

Mayank Agarwal is in for a chat! Starts off by saying that he and Rahul are not competing against each other for the Orange cap and they are just looking to play good cricket and help the team. Adds that runs in the international circuit have given him confidence and he has worked in the lockdown on improving his T20 game. States that he is hitting the ball very well and his thought is to get into good positions. 

The skipper of Punjab, KL Rahul starts off by saying that it is disappointing that they haven't won more games and thinks that this is one of those games where they haven't bowled or batted well and it is important to come back stronger. States that the wicket looked good with the new ball and he is not sure if it slowed up after that. Says that it is important to carry on their form. Adds that it would have been great to have an all rounder who bats and bowls well. Says that he has to sit with the coaching staff and decide if they want to field an extra bowler. On his orange cap battle with Mayank Agarwal, he says that he will be happy as long as the cap stays in the team of Punjab and adds that Agarwal has worked hard and he deserves the cap but that he will take it off him very soon.

The Mumbai bowing was too good! The first three overs weren't that great but after that, they were brilliant. Bumrah, Krunal, Chahar and Pattinson really had an impressive night. Overall, they were excellent and can be really pleased with their team effort.

A thumping win for Mumbai then! To be honest, it is their batters who set it up. Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard and a cameo from Pandya meant they finished with a total which was well above par and chasing that, Punjab needed a good start but they did not get one. Also, they kept losing wickets after that on regular intervals. Someone from the top four needed to go big but that was not the case. Pooran did seem like he was finding his touch but departed when his team needed him to continue. Maxwell also has not been at his best in this tournament. Can't blame Neesham, Sarfaraz or the others as by the time they came in, the target was almost out of reach.

Sarfaraz Khan will walk out with his willow for Punjab.

DRINKS! Mumbai have continued their good work and have done well to stem the flow of runs. Pooran was looking good but Pattinson made sure that he could not damage them any more by sending him back to the hut. Punjab, do have some firepower as Maxwell and Neesham are out in the middle and Sarfaraz is yet to walk out for them, but with the bowling attack that Mumbai possess, it sure does look difficult and unlikely that Punjab can win this one. But in this edition of the Indian T20 League, you never say never till the last delivery has been bowled. Rahul Chahar is back into the attack for Mumbai.

James Neesham will come out for Punjab.

Match 13 sees Punjab take on Mumbai at Abu Dhabi. Both teams are coming on the back of losses. Punjab lost to Rajasthan due to dramatic change of events as Rahul Tewatia the unsung hero clobbered 30 runs off Sheldon Cottrell when he bowled the 18th over. Having put up a total of 223 runs, Punjab looked settled for a win, but they forgot that it is Sharjah the ground with the smallest boundaries in this year's Indian T20 League. Soon the chase began, and Punjab got the taste of their own medicine as Steven Smith along with Sanju Samson went berserk at Punjab bowling. Though, Punjab came back into the contest after the departure of Steven Smith and some ball consuming effort by the newly promoted number four Rahul Tewatia. With the wicket of Sanju Samson, they were assured of a win only to see some blitzkrieg by Rahul Tewatia which sealed the game for Rajasthan. Mumbai's story is a bit different as they too were chasing a total of 202 where they lost their way and wickets very quickly to see themselves reeling at 78/4. Then came the star for Mumbai Ishan Kishan who played his first game in this tournament and almost took his side home with Kieron Pollard but his dismissal on the penultimate ball of the chase saw the game dragged on into the Super Over. In the end, Bangalore went onto win the game as Mumbai succumbed to its second loss. This game between Punjab and Mumbai is a clear battle between Punjab's batting prowess vs Mumbai's bowling strength. Who will come on top of this contest will be an interesting thing to watch. There would be a few interesting individual battles too like Mayank Agarwal vs Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul vs Trent Boult and Rohit Sharma vs Mohammed Shami. It should be another cracking and entertaining contest to watch.

Kings XI Punjab Team Squad -Chris Gayle,Deepak Hooda,Karun Nair,Mayank Agarwal,Sarfaraz Khan,Glenn Maxwell,James Neesham,Krishnappa Gowtham,Mandeep Singh,Tajinder Singh,KL Rahul,Nicholas Pooran,Prabhsimran Singh,Arshdeep Singh,Chris Jordan,Darshan Nalkande,Hardus Viljoen,Harpreet Brar,Ishan Porel,Jagadeesha Suchith,Mohammed Shami,Mujeeb Ur Rahman,Murugan Ashwin,Ravi Bishnoi,Sheldon Cottrell

Mumbai Indians Team Squad -Anmolpreet Singh,Chris Lynn,Kieron Pollard,Rohit Sharma,Saurabh Tiwary,Suryakumar Yadav,Anukul Roy,Hardik Pandya,Krunal Pandya,Sherfane Rutherford,Aditya Tare,Ishan Kishan,Quinton de Kock,Dhawal Kulkarni,Digvijay Deshmukh,James Pattinson,Jasprit Bumrah,Jayant Yadav,Mitchell McClenaghan,Mohsin Khan,Nathan Coulter-Nile,Prince Balwant Rai,Rahul Chahar,Trent Boult