Mullanpur: In the 33rd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024), Mumbai Indians defeated Punjab Kings by nine runs at their home ground Mullanpur. This match was so interesting that till the 19th over of the second innings, there was a possibility of the match reaching any point. However, the sharp bowling of Bumrah and Cortez and Mumbai’s excellent fielding, especially catching, turned the match in their favour. Mumbai may have won the match, but Punjab’s uncapped young batsman Ashutosh Sharma (61 runs in 28 balls) won everyone’s hearts with his batting.
Punjab had a very disappointing start while chasing the target of 193 runs given by Mumbai Indians. By 2.1 overs of the innings, the four opening batsmen had returned to the pavilion. These include Prabhsimran Singh (0), Riley Rousseau (01 run), Liam Livingston (01 run) and captain Sam Curran (6 runs). After this, Harpreet Singh (13 runs) tried to handle the innings with Shashank Singh but this pair could not last long. Jitesh Sharma also got out after scoring only 9 runs.
IPL 2024: Punjab’s young batsman Ashutosh Sharma won hearts
However, for the last few matches, Ashutosh Sharma and Shashank Singh have played the role of captain for Punjab. In this match too, he was once again burdened with expectations. There was a partnership of 34 runs between the two but then Shashank was out after scoring 41 runs. Then Ashutosh started hitting shots in a lively manner and along with Harpreet Brar added 57 runs in 30 balls. With this partnership, Punjab’s hopes of victory increased. But in the end Ashutosh got caught out while trying to play a big shot. He played a brilliant inning of 61 runs in 28 balls with the help of 2 fours and 7 sixes.
Sharp bowling of Bumrah-Cortje
After this, Brar also got out after scoring 31 runs. Then Punjab needed 18 runs in 8 balls to win. Kagiso Rabada raised the team’s hopes by hitting a six on the first ball but he was run out while trying to steal two runs on the first ball of the 20th over. In this way the entire Punjab team was out for 183 runs. For Mumbai, Bumrah and Cortez took three wickets each, while Akash Madhwal, Hardik Pandya and Shreyash Gopal got one wicket each.
Earlier, after losing the toss and batting, Mumbai Indians scored 192 runs in 20 overs. Once again Suryakumar Yadav played an excellent inning for Mumbai. Surya scored 78 runs in 53 balls. Rohit Sharma (36 runs) and Tilak Verma (34 runs) also supported him well. While captain Hardik contributed 10 runs and Tim David contributed 14 runs. Harshal Patel was the most successful bowler for Punjab. He took three wickets in his name. While captain Sam Curran took two wickets and Kagiso Rabada took one wicket.
