IPL 2019: Match 24, MI vs KXIP - Who Said What

It was an unbelievable match! If Andre Russell is winning it single-handedly for the KKR, Kieron Pollard announced his arrival in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on the day to literally pull off a heist single-handedly. Mumbai Indians (MI) won the thrilling last-ball encounter against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by three wickets at the Wankhede stadium.

The credit should also be given to Rahul Chahar and Alzarri Joseph who kept their cool in the last four balls and ran as if their life was dependent on it. As far as the chase is concerned, the Mumbai Indians were never in the game until their stand-in skipper Kieron Pollard walked out to bat. The top-order just couldn’t hit the ball cleanly and even Hardik Pandya struggled on the day.

But it was Pollard’s day. He was determined to win the game for his team and with the additional responsibility, he just flourished. His knock of 83 runs off just 31 balls was laced with three fours and ten sixes. Even the opposition was stunned with the assault and despite not finishing the game, he had done enough for the team to get over the line.

Rahul’s ton overshadows Gayle storm

After being put in to bat first, the KXIP got off to a rollicking start. Both KL Rahul and Chris Gayle attacked the opposition bowlers who were flustered with the assault. The latter was in the mood on the day and it seemed as if he will score the century. But he looked tired after the first half of the innings and mis-hit one off Jason Behrendorff after which the run-rate came down drastically.

But KL Rahul made sure that he didn’t waste a great start. At 159/4 after 18 overs, he launched an assault on Hardik Pandya to eke out 25 runs off his over and changed the momentum completely. In the last over, Rahul got to his well-deserved century as the KXIP finished on 197 runs for the loss of four wickets after 20 overs. But in the end, it wasn’t enough courtesy of the belligerent knock from Kieron Pollard.

Mumbai Indians skipper and Man of the Match, Kieron Pollard said:

I would like to thank God. Need to thank him for giving strength to me for doing the things that I do. Also love to thank my wife, it’s her birthday today and I want to dedicate this to her. I went up the order because I enjoy batting at Wankhede.

Plan was to attack Ashwin as spin wasn’t doing great. Unfortunately it didn’t happen but it was about staying calm. Was a difficult pitch to bowl on and good to bat on, so we did well with the ball after the start they got. We did pull things back in the middle overs a bit but lost the plot at the end. Again, can’t be harsh on the bowlers.

We finished on the right end of the result and thanks to God for that to. Obviously, Rohit is the captain of the team and it was only a precautionary measure for the team. He should be back in the next game. I would gladly give it back to him and field at the boundary, while also thinking of what to contribute to the team

Kings XI Punjab skipper Ravi Ashwin said:

He (Ankit Rajpoot) injured his finger in the first over. It was a big bonus that we got three overs from him in the powerplay. We were a bit up and down with our fielding and catching. Probably if we would have been sharper, we would have ended up on the right side.

I think it was a defendable total. It was just about par. It is a hard defending ground. We were about 10s for 10-12 overs and then we lost a little momentum while batting which I feel was crucial for us. I thought we pretty good as a bowling unit in bits and pieces.

Shami was really good and we were good in the middle overs. Somehow we could not close the game out. Sam was under the pump. It can happen when there is a lot of dew. It is one of a kind experience for him in the IPL. He will get better and get richer with experience. Sometimes with the dew you can miss the yorker like it happened to Sam.

At the end of the day Pollard batted beautifully and took the game away from us. Quite a lot of positives. We showed a lot of composure with the bat. Rahul batted through and closed out the inning. We could have been a little more steelier and smarter with our plans. He (Gayle) said he twisted his back. We have to go check and how he is.

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