IPL 10, Match 22, KXIP v MI Review: Buttler, Rana outshine brilliant century from Amla

Mumbai Indians (MI) pulled off an incredible victory against the Kings XI Punjab by 8 wickets and within the 15th over. It was a sensational effort by the Mumbai batsmen as they chased the big total of 199 with utmost ease. It was pure demolition by Jos Buttler, Nitish Rana and Parthiv Patel as the Punjab bowlers were left scratching their heads. With the victory, Mumbai again goes to the top of the points table.

Earlier in the day, it was the magnificent century from the bat of the veteran South African batsman Hashim Amla who looked in ominous touch. He especially treated slinga Malinga with disdain and went on to smash his maiden T20 century. There was class written all over it but eventually, the exceptional innings went in vain as Mumbai Indians made light work of the big total.

Shaun Marsh was included in the XI for the very first time in the tournament and the southpaw did his reputation no harm and kept his good record against Mumbai Indians intact. He smashed boundaries at will up front and struck 5 boundaries during his innings of 26 of 21 deliveries before falling to Mitchell McCleneghan in the final over of the powerplay. Meanwhile, Amla also smashed Lasith Malinga for a big six over the long on region.

Wriddhiman Saha struggled his way to 11 of 15 deliveries as the boundaries dried up from the 7th to the 10th over. Punjab could only master 69 at the end of 10 overs but they had 9 wickets in hand. Amla started oozing with confidence as captain Glenn Maxwell also joined in the fun by smashing McCleneghan for three sixes in the 14th over.

He eventually fell to Jasprit Bumrah after making 40 of a mere 18 deliveries. His innings included 4 fours and 3 sixes. Amla smashed Malinga for back to back sixes in the final over to bring up his century. He eventually remained unbeaten on 104 of 60 deliveries.

The duo of Jos Buttler and Parthiv Patel strolled out in the middle and looked in sublime form from the outset. Buttler literally slapped Sandeep Sharma over the mid-wicket region for a big six and followed it up with a couple of boundaries in the 2nd over of Ishant Sharma. Boundaries kept coming on a regular basis as Mumbai just kept on piling the agony on Punjab bowlers.

Both the batsmen accumulated 17 runs in the 5th over and followed it up with 14 in the next over as Mumbai raced to 82/0 at the end of the powerplay. Parthiv Patel eventually gave away his wicket to Marcus Stoinis in the final delivery of the 6th over. The man in form Nitish Rana came out to join Buttler in the middle and started off from where he left the other day.

The southpaw raced to 17 of 10 deliveries while Buttler also completed his half-century in the process. The duo looked in sublime touch as Mumbai reached 123/1 at the end of 10 overs. The target looked within touching distance and looked more of a formality from there on. Nitish Rana kept smashing sixes after sixes as the left-hander literally toyed with the listless Punjab bowlers.

Buttler, on the other hand, smashed a couple of sixes of Sandeep Sharma in the 13th over. While one came from the outside half of the bat the other was pure brute force shown by the wicket keeper batsman. Buttler eventually fell after making 77 of 38 deliveries but by then the match was within Mumbai’s grasp with 33 required from the final 7 overs.

Hardik Pandya played a flier towards the fag end of the innings as he smashed Ishant Sharma for a couple of fours and a six in the 15th over to bring the target within 10 runs. It was a cakewalk from there on as Rana finished things off with a big six of Mohit Sharma over the fine leg region.

He fittingly displaced David Warner as the orange cup with a brilliant innings of 62 of 34 deliveries. Hiss innings was studded with 7 hits over the fence and he didn’t hit a single four. The southpaw was in six hitting form and it was evident from his power packed performance. With this victory, Mumbai Indians yet again proved why they are the best all-round side in the tournament.

Brief Scores

Kings XI Punjab 198/4 in 20 overs (Hashim Amla 104*, Glenn Maxwell 40, Mitchell McCleneghan 2/46, Jasprit Bumrah 1/30)

Mumbai Indians 199/2 in 15.3 overs (Jos Buttler 77, Nitish Rana 62, Parthiv Patel 37, Marcus Stoinis 1/28)

Mumbai Indians win by 8 wickets (with 27 balls to go)

Check out – Full scorecard here 

Check out – Points table here