'Off-spinner bowling 20th over was mouth-watering' - Hardik Pandya on his thunderous knock against KXIP

The latest clash between Mumbai Indians and Kings XI Punjab saw a great victory for Rohit Sharma and the company as they registered a comfortable 48-run victory. They were not up to something too big until their last over saw runs flowing in endlessly.

The duo of Hardik Pandya (30 off 11) and Kieron Pollard (47* off 20) wreaked all the havoc on Punjab’s bowlers. Big last over, which saw 25 runs coming in for them, was cherry on the cake.

In the same light, all-rounder, Hardik Pandya stated that the sight of off-spinner bowling in the last over looked mouth-watering. The thunderous hits by Pollard and Pandya fetched 67 runs from just 23 balls for Mumbai, and they posted a huge 191/4 on board. Apart from them, Rohit Sharma’s 70 off 48 also provided the much-needed foundation to the team.

“It was very intense, it was more like mouth-watering that off-spinner bowling the 20th over. Me and Pollard, whoever misses has to stand at the non-striker’s end and just watch, and that was me today. I missed two balls, but Pollard made up most of it,” said Hardik when his elder brother Krunal interviewed him for MI’s YouTube channel.

The 26-year-old also added that he enjoys batting with the fellow Caribbean a lot. There have been several times when the duo has done the required job for their team. Pandya stated that he didn’t believe they could 191 but were lucky enough to have achieved it.

We didn’t aim for 191, but we were lucky enough: Hardik Pandya

“The number of times Pollard and I have done this is fantastic, and I’ve always enjoyed it. When we went, it was a clear message for me that I should go hard and look to get some big runs at the end and get to a total that KXIP finds difficult. “We didn’t aim for 191, but we were lucky enough that the big man (Pollard) had done it again,” added Hardik.

Krunal Pandya also added that when he came up to bowl against KXIP in the fourth over, the Punjab side was looking good. But in the end, MI made it in their favour. Krunal believed that if he bowled good at that moment, they can get back in the game.