Twitter Reactions: PBKS survive Suryakumar Yadav scare as MI lose five on the trot

Fifth defeat on the trot for Mumbai Indians! Their horrible run in IPL 2022 continues as they yet again failed to open their account in the team standings. Punjab Kings got the better of them this time around, recording their third win of the season. The contest proceeded like a rollercoaster and went right down to the wire. Suryakumar Yadav even looked set to take MI over the line. However, PBKS eventually clinched the contest by 12 runs.

Earlier in the match, Mumbai Indians won the toss and opted to bowl at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. PBKS got off to a brilliant start with openers Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan adding 97 runs for the first wicket. The former, who was short of runs lately, was the aggressor in the partnership as he played some delightful shots all over the park.

The PBKS skipper ended up scoring a 32-ball 52. However, Shikhar continued his good work and scored a 50-ball 70. Capitalizing on the good start, Jitesh Sharma and Shahrukh Khan went berserk in the end overs and the ball was flying all over the park. While Jitesh scored 30 off just 15 balls, Shahrukh needed just six deliveries to smash 15. As a result, PBKS posted 198/5 in their allotted 20 overs.

Dewald Brevis, Tilak Varma added twist to the tale

In reply, MI needed their top-order to fire but that wasn’t really the case. The dashing Ishan Kishan perished after scoring three off just six balls. While skipper Rohit started off well and made good use of the field restrictions, he also walked back after scoring 28 off 17 balls. At this point, PBKS looked firmly in command but little did they know the young guns will step up.

Under-19 sensations Dewald Brevis (49) and Tilak Varma (36) showed immense character and put up a big-hitting exhibition. The former, who’s hailed as ‘Baby AB de Villiers’, even smashed Rahul Chahar for four successive sixes. The duo added 84 runs for the third wicket but just when MI looked in command, both set batters were dismissed in quick succession.

The baton was then passed onto veteran duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Kieron Pollard. While the Caribbean dasher couldn’t contribute much and was run out for 10, Suryakumar played yet another stunning knock. On this occasion, he had to operate with the tailenders in a tricky situation. While he did well for the best part, Kagiso Rabada dismissed him for 43 in the penultimate over of the game. PBKS eventually clinched the contest by 12 runs.

Meanwhile, let’s look at how Twitterati reacted to PBKS’ triumph: