IPL 8: Bowlers, openers lead MI to hat-trick of wins

Parthiv Patel has done little to merit any instant recall in the eighth season of the IPL so far.  In six matches, he had only scored 96 runs at an average of 16. Only the loss of Aaron Finch due to injury had given him some security in his position at the top of the Mumbai Indians top order. On Sunday evening, however, he was the toast of the town, having made a 36-ball 59 to set up an emphatic victory over the Kings XI Punjab. Parthiv’s first boundary came only in the third over off Sandeep Sharma, but it set the tone for his innings. Mitchel Johnson attacked Parthiv with two slips in place, but the diminutive batsman smacked the fast bowler for a six  followed by a couple of boundaries.

Parthiv plundered 17 runs of that Johnson over, and would pile on more agony on the Australian in his second over taking him for another six and a four. Patel would score 28 off the 9 balls he faced off Johnson. While his partner Lendl Simmons was hitting the occasional boundary, Patel played the role of the enforcer. As a result, Mumbai’s run-rate after 10 overs was hovering around 10 an over, with all 10 wickets in hand. His pyrotechnics provided the impetus MI needed, and, together with Simmons’s 56-ball 71, were largely responsibly for the challenging 172-run total.

Economical bowling

The target was stiff and Murali Vijay and Virender Sehwag needed to fire to give Punjab a whiff. However, Lasith Malinga and Mitchell McClenaghan bowled a stifling line and did not leak runs. Malinga removed Sehwag off his first ball while second change bowler J Shuchith of Karnataka managed to dismiss dangerman Glenn Maxwell for  just 12 . Harbhajan Singh kept the other end tidy and with only the occasional boundary coming off David Miller’s blade, the chase steadily grew harder. Apart from Shujith, none of the Mumbai bowlers had an economy rate above than 8, and that made life difficult for KXIP batsman. Even R Vinay Kumar, who has been expensive in the past, only gave away just eight runs off his two overs and troubled both Vijay and Miller. By the time only the last couple of overs needed to be bowled KXIP need a challenging 44 runs.

Bowling recovery

With their strike bowler Mitchell Johnson coming in for special treatment, from the likes of Patel and Llendl Simmons , the rest of the KXIP bowlers had to fight their way back in the game. But they managed to do so, bowling a combined 29 dot balls in the first 15 overs of the Mumbai innings. Between the 12th and 14th over, Simmons played out ten dot balls. Mumbai only got to hit one six and four boundaries in the last five overs as Anureet Singh and Singh bowled five effective yorkers in his last two overs to restrict the likes of Keiron Pollard and Simmons. Anureet and Sandeep were later seen talking to Johnson, too. It seemed to help as the wayward pacer only conceded 11 off his final two overs while picking up the wicket of Rohit Sharma.

Opening struggles

Manan Vohra was down with fever and KXIP once again had to opt for veteran Virender Sehwag, but the 33-year-old once again fell cheaply. Much was depending on fellow opener Murali Vijay. The India batsmen, however, had a torrid time in the middle, playing out 14 dot balls in scoring a 34-ball 39. Glenn Maxwell who had been recalled after being dropped from the previous game departed cheaply once again, in the fifth over. Early wickets meant that KXIP constantly struggled to get their run rate past the 8 run mark. Miller and Wridiman Saha did make an effort in the last five overs, but with the required run-rate having already creeped above twelve-an-over, their attempts were in vain. With their latest defeat, Kings XI Punjab have just four points from nine games. The chances of the last year’s runners-up making Season 8 play-offs look really slim.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 172 for three in 20 overs (Lendl Simmons 71, Parthiv Patel 59, Rohit Sharma 26; Anureet Singh 1-30, Karanveer Singh 1-30) defeated Kings XI Punjab 149 for seven in 20 overs (Murali Vijay 39, David Miller 43; Lasith Malinga 2-31) by 23 runs.