IPL 2023: Things slowly falling into place for record champion Mumbai Indians

After a couple of low-scoring affairs in Lucknow and Ahmedabad over the past few days, Mohali turned up the volume with 430 runs being racked up.

The 46th match pitted Punjab Kings and Mumbai Indians — two teams who were coming off successful 200-plus run chases and this one was a high-scorer too. But it was Rohit Sharma’s side who came out triumphant.

Mumbai Indians gunned down Punjab Kings’ 214 with six wickets in hand and with more than an over to spare.

There were some fine individual performances across both the sides and some average ones too.

Here we look at five key points from the game.

Stepping on the gas

Mumbai Indians lost their captain Rohit for nothing and it should have raised some nerves in its camp, especially faced with a mammoth chase. But opener Ishan Kishan (75) and Suryakumar Yadav (66) stepped it up a notch from around the 12th over to set Mumbai’s ship on course. The pair plundered 116 runs from 55 balls for the third wicket. But one must not forget the 54-run stand between Kishan and Cameron Green (23) for the second wicket which pulled them out of the blip.

Looking SKY high

Much was made about Suryakumar Yadav’s ‘poor’ form on the back of the three ducks against Australia. But it wasn’t about form, more so about the lack of runs. And the 360-degree player has responded in fine fashion with this being his third half-century and his second successive 50-plus score after coming on as an impact player in place of Akash Madhwal. Incidentally, he had scored 57 against the same opponent in the home fixture at the Wankhede.

‘Living’ dangerously

Liam Livingstone is coming into his own after recovering from an ankle injury. The Englishman, was one of the few bright spots of the night for Punjab Kings, top scoring with an unbeaten 82. But his stunning effort went to waste as his team’s bowling attack were a undercooked against the Mumbai Indians batters. Nonetheless, it augurs well for Punjab and England going forward.

Knocking on India’s door

Jitesh Sharma is making a strong case for himself when it comes to an India call-up. On Wednesday, the 29-year-old scored an unbeaten 49. He has been scoring runs consistently with most of his runs coming from orthodox and proper cricketing shots. His strike rate at the death is 220 and he has the highest strike in the first 10 balls — 178. Rajasthan Royals’ duo Dhruv Jurel and Yashasvi Jaiswal are second and third on that list with 170 and 168.7, followed by Suryakumar and Glenn Maxwell. Jitesh is a good wicketkeeper too and with Rishabh Pant out for a long while following the accident, the selectors could have him in the reserves, six months down the line.

Home a disadvantage

Home is turning out to be a disadvantage for the Punjab Kings. It has only won one out of five matches at home it has travelled rather well. Also, the constant changes are affecting the team and it is yet to settle on a winning combination. On Wednesday, its bowling attack failed to make it count with Arshdeep Singh going for 66 runs, while Sam Curran was plundered for 41 in his three overs. Nathan Ellis, who came in as an impact player in place of Prabhsimran Singh, did reasonably well, taking 2-34.

Late charge

Record five-time champion Mumbai Indians seems to be making a late charge to the playoffs with it swapping places with Punjab Kings to move to sixth. Things are falling in place for it and if Jofra Archer, who had a night to forget, leaking 56 from his four overs for no wicket, can get back to being the old Archer he was before, Mumbai Indians will be a force to reckon with. Mumbai’s can rely on home comforts with three of their matches at the Wankhede being against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

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