Feroz Khan
Mohali: Piyush Chawla will remember his last over of the match against Mumbai Indians that he bowled in front of his home crowd, not for long but at least for this season. It was the over that changed the entire course of the match and cost the hosts Punjab a certain win against their opponents, Mumbai Indians.
MI (171/6) beat KXIP (168/3) by 4 wickets
Needing 32 runs from 12 deliveries, the hosts were all but certain of a comfortable win as they had already removed dangerous Rohit Sharma who once again was looking certain to lead his team out of trouble with an impressive knock of 50 runs. Parvinder Awana’s last over of the match and he got the important wicket of Rohit and then removed Harbhajan Singh for a duck. The equation was favouring the home team as Ambati Rayudu and new batsman Robin Peterson walked in.
Hussey threw the ball to Piyush Chawla to bowl the penultimate over of the match. Little did they know what Peterson had in mind as he audaciously switched his stance on the very first ball of the over to send the ball towards third man for a boundary. Second ball was dropped short and Peterson smashed it to deep extra cover for another boundary. In came Chawla again and Peterson dismissed him for a six over deep midwicket. The fourth was reverse sweeped for a single and this brought Rayudu on strike. He too joined the party with a big hit over long off and then worsened Chawla’s figure with another big hit over long on.
The over went for 27 runs and Mumbai needed just 5 runs from the last over. Fittingly, the winning stroke, a boundary, came off the bat of Rayudu who remained unbeaten on 34 (17b, 2X4, 2X6) along with Peterson 16 (7b, 2X4, 1X6).
Earlier, KXIP riding on their skipper David Hussey’s 68* and a strokeful innings from David Miller (34*) posted a competitive total of 168/3 in their allotted 20 overs. Going by their first 10 overs, it was a brilliant comeback as they were 79/3 in 12.5 overs at one stage.
Hussey and Miller collected 89 runs in 43 balls taking full advantage of the poor length and full toss deliveries from Mumbai Indians’ bowlers. It was also inexplicable why Harbhajan didn’t bring Robin Peterson back into the attack after opening the proceedings with him. He gave away just 3 runs.
Mumbai Indians had a sedate start to their innings with their openers collecting 52 runs in 7.4 overs. Things started falling out of place for them once the openers departed and the bowlers tightened the noose further as the innings progressed. Parvinder Awana was the pick of their bowlers taking three wickets while Azhar Mahmood took two wickets while giving away just 23 runs.
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Cookies Setting
By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device and the processing of information obtained via those cookies (including about your preferences, device and online activity) by us and our commercial partners to enhance site navigation, personalise ads, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. More information can be found in our Cookies and Privacy Policy. You can amend your cookie settings to reject non-essential cookies by clicking Cookie Settings below.
Manage Consent Preferences
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work or you may not be able to login.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advert as well as help measure the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we may not know when you have visited our site, and may not be able to monitor its performance.