Twitter Reactions: Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard turn MI's saviours to keep them alive

They are back! Mumbai Indians are back! Courtesy of their old finishing duo Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard, MI somehow managed to chase down 136 in 19 overs. MI won the game by six wickets to register their fifth win of the season and first of this UAE leg while Punjab Kings (PBKS) did right things for the most part of their defense before the bowlers couldn’t hold their nerve in their death overs.

Earlier, Punjab Kings started off cautiously in the powerplay overs with KL Rahul and his new opening partner Mandeep Singh churning out singles. MI came out with a different plan on the day giving Krunal Pandya the new ball and getting his three overs done in the first six itself. The plan worked as well with the left-arm spinner not conceding many and he also dismissed Mandeep.

What followed later was completely unexpected as Kieron Pollard came on and scalped dangerous Chris Gayle and KL Rahul in a single over. Jasprit Bumrah then came into the attack and delivered a dipping yorker to pin Nicholas Pooran in front of the stumps. The quick wickets reduced Punjab from 36/0 to 48/4 and in complete disarray.

However, Aiden Markram and Deepak Hooda did the repair job nicely stitching 61 runs for the fifth wicket. The former was stylish in his approach finding gaps with crafty strokes. Hooda, at the other end, kept rotating the strike and also hit a four and a six during his stay in the middle.

Unfortunately for Punjab, Markram got out at the wrong time as Rahul Chahar breached his defence just when the Men in Red were threatening to post more than 150 runs. Nevertheless, Markram played a brilliant knock of 42 runs off 29 balls to give his team an outside chance. PBKS could reach only 135 runs with not many boundaries in the death overs. Apart from Pollard, Bumrah also picked two wickets for MI.

A chase which came alive in the last few overs

For an in-form Mumbai Indians, the 137-run chase should’ve been a cakewalk. But the situation was different here. MI were under pressure coming into this game and it clearly showed in their approach to the chase. Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma didn’t get going from the outset and the pressure of dot balls got to the MI skipper. He looked to slog sweep Ravi Bishnoi to be caught at mid-off.

The next ball was a beauty from the leg-spinner as it uprooted Suryakumar Yadav’s middle-stump who didn’t read the delivery at all. A 45-run partnership followed then between De Kock and Saurabh Tiwary as MI remained in the chase somehow with Punjab bowlers doing exceedingly well.

Their best pace bowler Mohammed Shami then gave them the much needed breakthrough sending back De Kock in the 10th over. However, Tiwary was in the middle going strong for the five-time champions and he also smashed crucial fours and sixes for them. But there was yet another twist left in the game with the left-hander edging one behind the 16th over off Nathan Ellis after scoring 45 runs.

The pressure was on MI completely going into the final four overs with 40 runs still needed. But in the middle were Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard, MI’s favourite finishing duo. Though Hardik struggled to start with, he hit some lusty blows while Pollard also smacked a couple and like always, the two batters took MI home to get their campaign back on track. MI won by six wickets with six balls to spare as Deepak Hooda spilled Hardik’s catch to pop it for a six when five runs were needed.

Here’s how Twitter reacted