Firstpost Spodcast Episode 182: Pollard powers MI to win over KXIP; Sindhu, Saina advance in Singapore Open and more

Welcome to Episode 182 of Firstpost Spodcast. We begin with IPL news. Stand-in captain Kieron Pollard’s sensational 83-run knock put KL Rahul’s maiden IPL hundred in the shade as Mumbai Indians pulled off a thrilling last-ball three-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab, on Wednesday. Rahul and Chris Gayle, who struck a 36-ball 63 powered Kings XI Punjab to an imposing 197 for four after being asked to bat. Pollard single handedly brought his side back in the game with his 31-ball knock punishing the Punjab bowlers with 10 sixes and three fours. The burly West Indian was dismissed in the second ball of the last over with four needed for victory from final five balls. Alzarri Joseph (15 not out), who added a crucial 54 runs in 23 balls with Pollard for the seventh wicket, and Rahul Chahar (1) managed to hold their nerves to take side past the finish line. Moving on to some other cricket news now. India captain Virat Kohli was on Wednesday named as the Leading Cricketer of the year for the third successive time by the 2019 edition of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack. Kohli, who amassed 2735 runs across the three formats in 2018, was picked as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the year, along with England’s Tammy Beaumont, Jos Buttler, Sam Curran and Rory Burns. Indian women opener Smriti Mandhana bagged the women’s Leading Cricketer of the Year. A wrap of other sports news now. We begin with hockey. The Indian women’s hockey team Wednesday struck a late goal through youngster Lalremsiami to beat hosts Malaysia and take an unassailable lead in the five-match bilateral series. In badminton news, Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth eased into the second round of the $355,000 Singapore Open with straight-game wins over their respective rivals in the singles event on Wednesday. A boxing update to end the podcast, Pinki Rani started her 51 kg campaign with a commanding win as Indian boxers assured themselves of at least a couple of medals at the Cologne Boxing World Cup on Wednesday.