IPL 2020 | Nice to have Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard in form, claims Rohit Sharma

Mumbai Indians got off to a disastrous start having lost Quinton de Kock and Suryakumar Yadav early, but Rohit Sharma's innings of 70, followed by cameos from Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya, helped them reach 191 for 4, which almost looked impossible at one point of time. Sheldon Cottrell was the pick of the bowlers for KXIP as he finished his four overs with figures of 1 for 20, but the rest of the Punjab bowlers proved to be really expensive. KL Rahul’s captaincy also came under the scanner when he took the decision to bring on off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham in the last over of the innings, which went for 25 runs, thanks to a hattrick of sixes from Pollard. 

Chasing a target of 192, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal looked in good form as they timed the ball with absolute ease. However, Bumrah had other plans as he dismissed in-form Mayank with a ripper on 25 runs. After that, KXIP never looked in control of the match as none of their batsmen could get going, except Nicholas Pooran, who belted 44 runs in 24 balls. In the end, MI easily won the match by 48 runs with Bumrah being the pick of the bowlers, taking 2 wickets for 18 runs. 

Rohit Sharma was relieved with Hardik and Pollard coming back to form and credited his bowlers for executing plans with complete precision unlike the last match, where they gave away 200 runs against RCB.  

“Was a great win. We didn't start really well, but we always knew with the kind of attack Punjab had we wanted to capitalize. Those two guys (Pollard and Hardik) they back themselves to get the runs, it's nice to have them in form as well.” Rohit said. 

“It wasn't going to be easy with the ball against KXIP batting line-up. We knew we had to get early wickets and everything went to plan, credit to the bowlers. The last game the execution wasn't exactly right at the death with the ball. So we discussed and wanted to improve. I haven't played enough with Boult and Pattinson, so it's difficult to get them on the same page. They have now got an idea of what I need from them and I got to know them better too. Feels nice to get the runs, but the two points matter more.”

The victory takes Mumbai, who have 4 points from 4 games a positive NRR of 1.094, to top of the table.