IPL 9, MI vs KXIP as it happened: Vijay, Saha help Punjab pull off unlikely win vs Mumbai

On Friday the 13th, while the Kings manage to exorcise some demons, the haunting in Vizag continues for the Mumbai Indians #MIvKXIP #IPL

— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) May 13, 2016

If you were to choose between 'selfish' and 'foolish', you should pick the former. #NoShow #MIvKXIP

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 13, 2016

After 17 overs,Punjab 127/3 ( Murali Vijay (C) 54 , Gurkeerat Singh Mann 6)

Vijay brings up his own fifty in the 16th over, before Saha gets Punjab closer to the target with an inside edge that beats the keeper! OUT! Saha’s lively innings comes to an end after he drags the ball onto his stumps off a bouncer from McClenaghan. Too late for Mumbai now, with Punjab needing just eight to win from 26 balls. Maxwell walks out to bat after Saha’s dismissal, and is dismissed for a golden duck after feeding Pollard the simplest of catches for Pollard at mid-on. Gurkeerat finishes the game in the last ball of the 17th over with a boundary towards long-on! Kings XI Punjab thrash Mumbai Indians by seven wickets with 18 balls to spare! Who would have thought of that at the start of the match!

Feeling bad for Sachin. He doesn't deserve to mentor this team. How about, ummmm, ok, can't think of any other IPL team either. #MIvKXIP

— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) May 13, 2016

After 15 overs,Punjab 110/1 ( Murali Vijay (C) 48 , Wriddhiman Saha (W) 52)

Bhajji comes to bowl the 13th over, which will also be his last of the innings. Saha comes down the track in the second ball, and hammers the ball over long-off! Ends the over with a boundary, with 14 coming off it in a big one for Punjab! Vijay moves to the 40s with a six off the first ball of Pandya’s final over, before smashing a boundary off the next ball. 14 conceded in the 14th, with Vijay and Saha bringing up the century partnership in the over. Terrific batting by the pair. Saha ends the 15th over with a boundary towards wide long-off, also bringing up his half-century in 38 deliveries!

2 Indian international Test specialists~ 1 established & the other in the process.Bringing their A game on a challenging pitch #MIvKXIP #IPL

— Ahmer Nazir (@iAhmer) May 13, 2016

After 12 overs,Punjab 74/1 ( Murali Vijay (C) 35 , Wriddhiman Saha (W) 30)

Vijay hammers the final ball of the 10th over down the ground, with Punjab reaching 61/1 at halfway mark in their innings. Southee, who got the early breakthrough, returns to the attack for the 12th over, but gets hammered towards wide long-on in the third ball for a four! Nothing seems to be working for the home side at the moment.

After 9 overs,Punjab 53/1 ( Murali Vijay (C) 27 , Wriddhiman Saha (W) 18)

Four byes off the second ball after powerplay, with the ball missing Vijay’s stumps and running away towards the long-leg boundary. Too many runs being conceded by the home side now. The fifty stand between Vijay and Sahais brought up in the ninth over, with Punjab firmly in the driver’s seat at the moment.

After 6 overs,Punjab 32/1 ( Murali Vijay (C) 19 , Wriddhiman Saha (W) 10)

Consecutive boundaries off Vijay’s bat in the fourth over, with McClenaghan going for 10 runs in the fourth over! Both Vijay and Saha have settled fairly well at the crease by now, and will look to get a partnership at this stage in order to establish the platform for Punjab to eventually chase the target down. Meanwhile, KXIP reach 32/1 at the end of powerplay, 11 runs more than what Mumbai had achieved in their innings.

After 3 overs,Punjab 11/1 ( Murali Vijay (C) 7 , Wriddhiman Saha (W) 4)

OUT! Southee manages to remove Hashim Amla early in the innings, angling the ball into his pads, with the ball heading towards the leg stump. Vijay and Saha however, get boundaries in the subsequent overs, as the pressure is back on the Kiwi pair of Southee and McClenaghan.

After 20 overs,Mumbai 124/9 ( Harbhajan Singh 14 , Jasprit Bumrah 2)

Mohit into the attack for the final over. Single by Bumrah off the first ball. Dots off the next two balls, before Bhajji clears the midwicket boundary with a slog! Single off the final ball, with eight coming off the final over of the innings. Looks like a simple target for Punjab, unless the Mumbai attack can somehow claw back in the innings.

After 19 overs,Mumbai 116/9 ( Harbhajan Singh 7 , Jasprit Bumrah 1)

Sandeep to bowl the 19th. Bhajji attempts a slog off the first ball of the 19th over, but ends up sending the ball towards the vacant mid-off region. Well-struck by Mitch in the second, but stopped by the bowler. OUT! Mumbai lose their ninth wicket with McClenaghan getting caught by Miller at long-off after coming down the track and looking for the slog!

After 18 overs,Mumbai 113/8 ( Harbhajan Singh 5 , Mitchell McClenaghan 4)

SIX! The sixes are starting to rain for Mumbai, with Krunal smashing the first ball of Axar’s final over towards long-on! Three off the third ball, with some clever placing by Pollard. Six to end the over. Mishit off Pollard’s bat, but the ball still manages to clear the long-off boundary! This is exactly what Sachin Tendulkar was talking about a few of days ago, when he talked about how bats have evolved in modern times without any such improvement in balls. 

FOUR! Third boundary in Pandya’s innings. Sliced over backward point to bring up the 100 for Mumbai. Stoinis however, gets the important breakthrough, as well as his third wicket! OUT! Pollard departs the very next ball, as Stoinis grabs his fourth wicket in what has been a superb spell so far. Stoinis ends with figures of 4/15 after four overs. OUT! Eight down, with a back-of-the-hand slower one from Mohit inducing Southee to mis-hit to Gurkeerat at long-off! Bhajji gets a much-needed boundary towards point the next ball. McClenaghan gets his first boundary as well, ramping the last ball of the 18th over towards fine-leg!

After 15 overs,Mumbai 80/5 ( Kieron Pollard 18 , Krunal Pandya 5)

Stoinis returns for the 14th over, and Pollard guides the first ball down towards long-leg, with the fielder at short fine-leg failing to prevent the ball from running away towards the boundary! Leg byes however! OUT! Buttler is caught by Gurkeerat at long-off after attempting to clear a full delivery from Stoinis. Gurkeerat fumbles with the catch for a second, before finally completing the catch. All hopes on Pollard and Krunal Pandya now for Mumbai to get past the 130-run mark! Huge one for Mumbai in the 15th, with Pollard smashing two sixes in the over as 17 come off it!

OUT! Buttler goes after some juggling from Gurkeerat on the boundary line, #MI really struggling now https://t.co/RlPjSz21tJ #MIvKXIP

— Firstpost Sports (@FirstpostSports) May 13, 2016

The reason why #MI could turn it around twice in two seasons was their invincibility at Wankhede. Slightly tricky this season now. #MIvKXIP

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 13, 2016

After 12 overs,Mumbai 53/4 ( Jos Buttler (W) 8 , Kieron Pollard 1)

SIX! Rana continues to get the sixes for his side, lofting the second ball of the 10th over towards wide long-off to get his third big hit of the innings! Looks like he will have to play an important knock for his side tonight, after the kind of start that they got off to. Mumbai reach 45/3 at the halfway mark in their innings. OUT! Rana is caught behind after getting a thick edge off a Stoinis delivery, departing for a 28-ball 25. FOUR! Buttler gets his first boundary of the day with an outside edge, with the ball beating the slip fielder on its way towards the third man boundary, which also brings up the elusive boundary for Mumbai!

They should have used pink ball for this game. This is like a day-night test match. #MIvKXIP

— Rohit Swain (@rhtswn) May 13, 2016

After 9 overs,Mumbai 37/3 ( Nitish Rana 17 , Jos Buttler (W) 1)

Stoinis into the attack for the first over after powerplay, and concedes five off his first over of the day, including two leg-byes. Meanwhile, Mumbai’s run-rate is less than four, terrible one by any standard. Cariappa is introduced in the eighth over, and Rohit has a heart-in-mouth moment in the first ball after getting a top-edge towards short mid-off, where luckily there’s no one to take the catch.

SIX! Rana is starting to take the pressure off Mumbai’s shoulders, getting down on one knee and whacking the final ball of the over towards midwicket, with eight coming off the eighth. OUT! Axar knocks Rohit’s off-stump over, as the Mumbai skipper departs for 15 off 24 balls. Mumbai are in dire straights right now.

After 9 overs,Mumbai 37/3 ( Nitish Rana 17 , Jos Buttler (W) 1)

Stoinis into the attack for the first over after powerplay, and concedes five off his first over of the day, including two leg-byes. Meanwhile, Mumbai’s run-rate is less than four, terrible one by any standard. Cariappa is introduced in the eighth over, and Rohit has a heart-in-mouth moment in the first ball after getting a top-edge towards short mid-off, where luckily there’s no one to take the catch.

SIX! Rana is starting to take the pressure off Mumbai’s shoulders, getting down on one knee and whacking the final ball of the over towards midwicket, with eight coming off the eighth. OUT! Axar knocks Rohit’s off-stump over, as the Mumbai skipper departs for 15 off 24 balls. Mumbai are in dire straights right now.

End of the powerplay, #MI 21 for 2. This is the lowest powerplay score of #IPL2016 https://t.co/RlPjSz21tJ #MIvKXIP

— Firstpost Sports (@FirstpostSports) May 13, 2016

After 6 overs,Mumbai 21/2 ( Rohit Sharma (C) 11 , Nitish Rana 9)

Punjab skipper Vijay introduces spin early in the innings, with Axar Patel getting introduced in the fourth over of the innings. Meanwhile, the momentum is firmly with Punjab at the moment, and they will look to get rid of Rohit early in order to maximise the probability of restricting Mumbai to a score within the range of 100, which would make their chase a cakewalk. SIX! Rana infuses some life into the Mumbai innings with a confident pull off a short ball from Mohit over the deep backward square-leg boundary! First big hit of the innings, as Mumbai cross-the 20-run mark at the end of powerplay. Still a terrible start for the defending champs.

Unmukt must feel left out. Its an all Sharma party. At the non strikers end and bowling from both ends. #MIvKXIP @UnmuktChand9

— Gautam Bhimani (@gbhimani) May 13, 2016

Rohit has won 9 out of 11 tosses...wins another won at the only venue in the #IPL where batting first has alway worked. #MIvKXIP

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 13, 2016

After 3 overs,Mumbai 8/2 ( Rohit Sharma (C) 7 , Nitish Rana 0)

Rohit and Unmukt walk out to bat, with Sandeep Sharma being handed the ball. FOUR! Rohit gets off the mark in style, guiding the ball down towards fine-leg! A single off the fifth ball, with five coming off the first over. However, it is a nightmare all the way thereafter, with Unmukt Chand and Ambati Rayudu departing for ducks off the bowling of Mohit and Sandeep Sharma respectively. Mumbai are reeling early in their innings, and it will take some real effort by Rohit and co. to pull themselves back in the game.