The Mumbai Indians has won the nail-biting match against Kings XI Punjab by four wickets played at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh 25 April 2012 – day/night (20-over match).
Earlier, Kings XI Punjab skipper David Hussey won the toss and elected to bat first. Batting first, KXIP off to a flying start but soon lost two quick wickets of Nitin Saini on 17 runs and then Mandeep Singh 22 runs.
Kings XI Punjab were 46 for 2 in 7.4 overs. The regular captain Adam Gilchrist has not played the match today due to injury.
The Australian batsman, Shaun Marsh then comes at the middle at number three, but did not last long and lost his wickets on 17 runs.
Then came to bat the stand-in skipper David Hussey. He played magical knock of 68 runs from just 40 balls with four huge sixes and equal number of boundaries. Miller also supported him very well, playing valuable knock of 34 runs from 17 balls with three huge sixes and one four.
The Kings XI Punjab made 168 runs with the loss of three wickets from their limited 20 over play.
Batting second, Mumbai Indians also started well and both the openers played good shorts allover the ground. MI lost their first wicket in the form of Franklin on 52 runs in the 7.5 overs.
Sachin Tendulkar was the next to go, and Azar Mahmood took his wicket. Then Karthik and Pollard too lost their wickets without doing much, but Rohit Sharma on the other side playing his natural game.
Rohit Sharma made 50 runs from 30 balls with three fours and three sixes. But the real hero of the match was Rayudu, who made 34 runs from just 17 balls with two huge sixes and one four, Peterson supported him well with 16 important runs from just 7 balls with one six and two fours.
The real damage for the Kings XI Punjab was the 19th over bowled by Chawla that costs 27 runs, and was the turning point of the match.
Kings XI Punjab skipper David Hussey said, “Fantastic game, mirror image to the one in Mumbai. I think we had enough, anything can happen in T20, and anything did. The penultimate over really turned the tide. You try and bowl your best bowler in the penultimate over, Chawla bowled well earlier but they got stuck in.”
Winning captain Harbhajan Singh said, “There were too many runs on the board, the way Rayudu batted it was great, he was exceptional, I have no doubts he will go on to play for India very soon. We needed a win to get the campaign going, great batting from Peterson as well. The way Rayudu, Peterson and Rohit batted, it was fantastic.”
Ambati Rayudu is the Man of the Match: “When I went in I thought even if I took only singles in the first 8-9 balls, I could accelerate later. I’m getting a hang of playing at every position. I have to thank Sachin Sir. He helped me out a lot in the last few days when I was low.”
