Twitter Reactions: Pollard's roaring comeback helps Mumbai Indians post 186

The 2018 edition of the Indian Premier League is nearing the business end of the season. With the playoffs a week away, the race to make it to the playoffs is heating up big time. In the ongoing match number 50 of the season, two sides who are hanging by the cliff in the tournament, locked horns in Mumbai. The Mumbai Indians are hosting the Kings XI Punjab in the match.

Coming to the game, both sides knew they had to win this to keep their hopes alive. And now, at the half way stage, the hosts would be a happier camp considering the revival they made in the first innings after the early slump. Kings XI Punjab won the toss and opted to bowl first. The Mumbai Indians did not have a great start as Andrew Tye dismissed Evin Lewis on 9 in the third over.

Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan then played blitzkrieg cameos to push the visitors away. While Yadav scored 27 off 15 deliveries, Ishan hammered a 12-ball 20. The Kings got back in to the game with Andrew Tye dismissing both the players on successive deliveries in the final powerplay over. Rohit Sharma was removed by Ankit Rajpoot soon after.

Krunal Pandya and the comeback man, Kieron Pollard, had the task of rebuilding the innings. The innings slowed down for a brief while. The momentum started to shift again in the middle overs when the Mumbai Indians scored 66 runs in four overs (12th to 15th over). Krunal scored a handy 32 off 23 balls before getting dismissed by Marcus Stoinis.

But the highlight of the innings was Pollard’s 22-ball 50 that kept the hosts interested. Pollard was dismissed at a very crucial time of the game in the 16th over by R Ashwin. The innings sort of slipped away after Pollard’s dismissal. Mitchell McClenaghan and Mayank Markande hit a few very crucial runs at the end to take Mumbai Indians to 186/8 in their 20 overs.

Here is how the Twitterati reacted to the Mumbai Indians innings:

.@aj191 continues to stay on top of the purple cap list. #MIvKXIP #IPL2018 pic.twitter.com/zi29abFvHZ

— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) May 16, 2018

Tye20.

— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) May 16, 2018

Pacers with most four wicket-hauls in IPL:

5 – Lasith Malinga
4 – Laxmipathy Balaji, ANDREW TYE*
3 – Munaf Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar #MIvKXIP

— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) May 16, 2018

Andrew Tye becomes the first player to take three four wicket-hauls in a single season of IPL. #MIvKXIP

— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) May 16, 2018

Comeback star Kieron Pollard smashes a 22-ball fifty. #MIvKXIP pic.twitter.com/YplLiz3xVL

— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) May 16, 2018

Kieron Pollard celebrating a 50 where he mistimed 17/20 shots. Nice #MIvKXIP

— Rajat (@EdinAzzaa) May 16, 2018

What a comeback from Kieron Pollard – hits a 22-ball fifty.
His 13th IPL fifty. Pollard's last IPL fifty came against KXIP at Wankhede Stadium in 2017@mipaltan #MIvKXIP

— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) May 16, 2018

MI after the light tower break: 72 for 1 in five overs.
Remaining 15 overs: 114 for 5.

How crucial will that span be?

— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) May 16, 2018

#MI should be happy with this score. Gives their bowlers a lot to play with

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 16, 2018

Pollard came to party today for MI n Ashwin leading from the front by bowling difficult overs for kings11 #goodcricket #ipl #MIvsKXIP

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) May 16, 2018

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