Over the past few days, we have witnessed some absolute humdingers along with run carnage from the finest of batters. In the ongoing IPL 2023 clash between the Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings, the crowd were in for a treat at the iconic Wankhede Stadium as they some explosive from both sides. The MI skipper, Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to field first. The Australian star all-rounder Cameron Green first starred with the bowl and later with the bat.
Green took the wicket of Matthew Short when the score was 18 runs on the board for the PBKS. Later on, the lanky Aussie cleaned up Harpreet Brar in the 18th over when the visitors were looking good for a score close to 225. Thereafter, Jitesh Sharma played a blazing cameo (25 of 7 balls), which powered them to post 214/8.
Now speaking of the Mumbai Indians’ run chase, after losing Ishan Kishan early, it was the Rohit-Green show. While the skipper played a good supporting role with a well-made 44 runs, Green showed his batting masterclass as he played shots all over the park. During his electrifying knock (67 off 43 balls) Green smacked six fours and three gigantic sixes, respectively. Nathan Ellis bowled a brilliant back-of-hand slower ball which got the Aussie to miscue his bat swing only to hand Curran an easy catch to the right of the cover region.
Albeit, when MI were 84/2, and Mr 360 aka Suryakumar Yadav walked in, it was expected of Surya to keep up the momentum of the innings and accelerate the run rate as the required rate was still mounting despite the top order players playing fairly pacey innings. Consequently, Sky showed his creative shot-making side to accelerate the run rate. He looked in his zone and his blitzkrieg meant that he notched up his fastest fifty in just 23 balls.
However, shortly after, a low full toss from Arshdeep put an end to his entertaining knock. Yadav tried to flick through the mid-wicket region to hand a sharp catch to Atharva Taide to conclude the innings of 57 off 26 balls. His innings included seven fours and three sixes, respectively. Consequently, today’s run-fest triggered cricket aficionados and cricket alike to share their reactions on Twitter.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to Green’s and Suryakumar’s explosive innings:
Cameron Green was looking in sublime touch and was hoping to finish the game for Mumbai Indians. Though, it was not meant to be as he got out in the 16th over when the score was reading 159/3. MI were still looking close enough for a tight finish with Suryakumar going well with his bat. Despite a quickfire fifty from the Mumbaikar, MI lost his vital wicket in the 18th over when they needed him to take the game deeper and finish it. When Mumbai Indians were 182/3, he got dismissed leaving the middle-order batters under intense pressure.
Even though, the Aussie big-hitter Tim David tried to get set while Surya was still batting, he could not provide those big hits which could have got Mumbai over the line. Courtesy of Arshdeep Singh’s bowling brilliance in the fag stages of the match, David could not get going while Singh cleaned up Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera to derail MI’s run chase totally. Consequently, Mumbai Indians lost the game by 13 runs.