JOIN USKings XI finish on winning note
Kings XI Punjab produced an all-round show as they ended their IPL campaign on a winning note with a 50-run humiliation of Mumbai Indians here on Saturday.
Riding on fine half-centuries from Azhar Mahmood (80) and Shaun Marsh (63), Punjab posted a big total of 183 for four after being put in to bat and then shot Mumbai out for 133 in 19.1 overs at the picturesque HPCA Stadium.
Punjab ended the tournament with 16 points from 16 matches while the outcome of match did not make much of a difference to Mumbai, except for the fact that their confidence has been dented ahead of the knock-out stage.
Despite the loss, Mumbai, who ended the league stage on 22 points from 16 matches, would still play against Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier 1 in New Delhi on May 21 as their top-two finish had already been secured before this match.
Chasing a big target of 184, Mumbai never had a substantial partnership, the biggest being the 39-run stand between captain Rohit Sharma (25) and Kieron Pollard (22) for the sixth wicket. Ambati Rayudu top-scored with a 22-ball 26.
All the top-order batsmen except for opener Glenn Maxwell (0) and Dinesh Karthik (0) got the starts but could not convert them to big scores.
For Punjab, Piyush Chawla and Sandeep Sharma grabbed two wickets apiece while Praveen Kumar and Parvinder Awana took a wicket each.
Interestingly, Punjab captain Adam Gilchrist, who was playing his last IPL match, got a wicket, the only wicket in his illustrious career.
Mumbai needed 51 runs from the last over and it was a mere formality. To the surprise of everybody in the stadium, Gilchrist stepped up to bowl the last over and got Harbhajan Singh’s wicket from the first ball.
Gilchrist bowled an innocuous off-spinner and Harbhajan slogged one-handed and the ball went straight to Gurkeerat Singh’s hand at long-on. The Australian great celebrated the wicket with a jig, a half Gangnam style.