Twitter Reactions: Chris Gayle and Stoinis propel the hosts to 174

Gayle scored a half-century but the impact of that innings was not huge.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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3 Min Read

Chris Gayle
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Chris Gayle of Kings XI Punjab in action. (Photo by Surjeet Yadav/IANS)

Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore hosted its first match of the season as they hosted the game between Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Mumbai Indians (MI). It is a must-win game for the defending champions and they bowled with purpose after opting to bowl first on a flat pitch. It was the refreshed duo of KL Rahul and Chris Gayle which started the proceedings for their side. Both of them took some time to get going and the former was the one to take the lead.

Rahul began the onslaught even as Mumbai bowled really well to Gayle. A couple of gigantic shots from the Karnataka got the crowd up on their feet. But the fun stopped for him soon after the end of the powerplay as he holed out in the deep off Mayank Markande. Meanwhile, his partner was in the mood and joined the party by pummeling one of the sixes out of the Stadium. It felt as if the Gayle storm is on the way, but a clever move from Rohit Sharma to Ben Cutting worked as he straightaway scalped his wicket. He scored 50 off 40 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes.

MI Bowlers pull back

Though Gayle was in the middle, Mumbai never let the game away from them with their brilliant bowling and once he was sent back, took full control of the innings. The promotion of Yuvraj Singh at number 3 didn’t work at all as he was run-out on 14. Karun Nair looked in a hurry and was striking the ball beautifully before being dismissed for 23 off just 12 balls. He just chipped the ball in the air off Mitchell McClenaghan which went into the hands of the long-on where Hardik Pandya was stationed.

Even Axar Patel was sent up the order to counter the threat of Krunal Pandya which perplexed everyone as they completely lost the plot. Jasprit Bumrah got his wicket and put them into the further trouble as Mayank Agarwal and Marcus Stoinis joined hands with 3 overs to go. But the death bowling was too good from the Mumbai Indians on the day as they never allowed free runs to Punjab.

But the visitors once again gave away all the hard work in the last over with Hardik conceding 22 runs. Marcus Stoinins was the man who took full toll of some shoddy bowling from the youngster as Punjab ended on 174 runs for the loss of 6 wickets after their 20 overs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted during the innings:

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