Mumbai Indians. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)
On Wednesday, May 3, Mumbai Indians (MI) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) faced off in the 46th match of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium. The five-time IPL champions overcame PBKS by six wickets with seven balls to spare in a thrilling encounter.
MI skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and invited PBKS to bat first. Arshad Khan gave MI an early breakthrough as he dismissed opener Prabhsimran Singh for just nine runs. Matthew Short came in and formed an important partnership with skipper Shikhar Dhawan as PBKS were 50/1 after the powerplay.
Veteran Piyush Chawla continued his good form as he dismissed Dhawan for 30 runs in the ninth over. In the 12th over, he struck again, removing Short for 27 runs. Meanwhile, Liam Livingstone and Jitesh Sharma led the PBKS charge, forming a significant partnership as the team posted 214/3 in 20 overs. Livingstone smashed an unbeaten 82 off 42 balls while Jitesh hit an unbeaten 49 runs from 27 deliveries.
Rishi Dhawan delivered a huge breakthrough for PBKS during the chase, dismissing skipper Rohit Sharma for a duck. However, Cameron Green, who batted alongside keeper-batter Ishan Kishan, added steadiness to MI’s innings and got dismissed soon after and MI were 54/2 after the powerplay.
Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav batted brilliantly and smashed 66 runs from 31 balls while Kishan scored 75 off 41 balls. Thereafter, Tim David and Tilak Varma finished the game to hand the five-time champions their second win in a row, on both occasions while chasing a total of over 200 runs. Consequently, this triggered a meme fest and fans took to Twitter to express themselves.